Abdeen Palace Museum - Cairo
Details about Abdeen Palace in Cairo
One of the main components of Khedive Ismail's modernisation of Cairo is Abdeen Palace. He ordered the palace to be built after ascending to the Egyptian throne in 1863. Abdeen, a Chief Military Officer under Mohamed Ali Pasha, retained the residence and preferred it to any other place until it was extensively remodelled and destroyed. Following the death of Abdeen Bey, his wife sold the palace to Khedive Ismail, who obliterated the structure and extended its boundaries by a huge area.
Who lived in Abdeen Palace?
He started building it and expanded its area to become 24 acres, then he built a huge palace with a wonderful design and wonderful decorations that combine many arts around its walls and kept his name so it became the current Abdeen Palace, one of the architectural masterpieces in the history of Cairo. Abdeen Palace was the seat of government for the royal family in Egypt from 1872 until 1952, and it was later inhabited by his son Khedive Muhammad Tawfiq, then Khedive Abbas Hilmi II, then Sultan Hussein Kamal, then King Fouad.
Khedive Ismail commissioned the French engineer de Corail-Rousseau to design the palace, which cost $40,000, an exorbitant sum at that time in Egypt’s rule, while the cost of furnishing the palace itself amounted to $120,000, a very large sum. To build the palace prior to the inauguration of the Suez Canal in 1869, architects from various parts of the world put in a great deal of effort. The design and construction of the 500-roomed building was completed by the architects in 1874.
When the palace was built, its vast land included cemeteries, containing the remains of Egyptians that were moved outside the palace except for the shrine of "Sidi Badran", which now overlooks the fountain square. This shrine belongs to an unknown person named Badran, and whenever the workers tried to move it, it was damaged. Therefore, Khedive Ismail ordered the preservation of the shrine and its inclusion in the palace designs. King Fouad renovated the shrine with colorful plant decorations and Quranic inscriptions similar to those found in the Al-Fath Mosque located inside the palace next to Bab Paris.
The building is made up of two levels; the first level includes the women’s quarters and the men’s quarters, whereas the bottom level is composed of the palace gardens, a rare medicinal drug shop, the royal establishments for publishing, and the office used by King Farouk. Abdeen Palace contains the largest and most ornately decorated room known as the Muhammad Ali Hall. Furthermore, there are a few specific rooms in the palace called the White Hall, Red Hall, and Green Hall which were center used for welcoming the foreign delegations visiting Egypt.
Every corner of the palace, the walls and partitions exude the scent of creativity, artistic paintings signed by French artists, whether of war scenes or Egyptian military uniforms throughout the ages, which makes the tour between the museums' corridors rich and interesting. Also, a collection of photographs of the royal family and a photo of the royal wedding of King Farouk.
The palace contains 5 large halls for celebrations, each of which contains 100 pieces of world art masterpieces. It also contains halls and salons, and a theater that includes hundreds of gilded chairs. It also contains areas isolated by curtains for women, called “the harem,” and the reason for the name is that it is an area forbidden to strange men.
What are the opening and closing hours of the Abdeen Palace Museum?
The hours of operation of the Abdeen Palace Museum are as follows: From Monday to Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday: 9:00 am to 3:00 pm. The facility is closed on Fridays. The map of Abdeen Palace The capital city of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Cairo, is home to Abdeen Palace. Al-Gomhoria Square is where it is located, close to the Cairo Egyptian Museum.
Latest Articles
Admin
Aswan Governerate in Egypt
Aswan was known as ‘Sonu’ in ancient Egyptian times, meaning market, as it was a trading centre for caravans coming to and from Nubia. In the Ptolemaic era, it was called ‘Sin’ and the Nubians called it ‘Yaba Swan’. It was also known as the Land of Gold because it served as a great treasure or tomb for the kings of Nubia who lived there for thousands of years. Before the migration, Aswan's borders extended from Asna in the east to the border of Sudan in the south, and its inhabitants were Nubians, but after the Islamic conquest of Nubia, some Arab tribes settled there.
Admin
About Luxor Governorate in Egypt
The South Upper Egyptian area is home to the Egyptian governorate of Luxor. Its capital is Luxor, which was formerly Thebes, the capital of Egypt throughout multiple pharaonic eras. Its centers and cities are spread over both sides of the Nile River. The said governorate was established by Presidential Decree No. 378 of 2009, which was promulgated on the 9th of December of that year.
Admin
History of kafr El Sheikh Governorate
Kafr El Sheikh Governorate, located in the far north of Egypt in the Nile Delta, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, is characterised by the diversity of natural life and environments, and is one of the Egyptian cities that can be visited after the end of the first semester exams at universities and schools, as it features many diverse tourist and recreational places at symbolic prices within everyone's reach.
Admin
Egypt's New Administrative Capital
The New Administrative Capital is considered the project of the era because it reflects a perfect image of the future and progress on the economic, cultural, social and civilisational level, as the capital is considered the new capital of Egypt at the present time. The importance of the New Capital is that it is a comprehensive transformation of the future of buildings, services and national and mega projects in Egypt.
Admin
Al Gharbia Governorate
The Governorate of Gharbia is inclusive in the geographical area of The Arab Republic of Egypt which is in the African continent, more specifically in the region surrounding the Nile delta, between Damietta and Rashid governance. To the control of the region from the north is Kafr El-Sheikh Governorate, from the south Menoufia Governorate, from the east – Dakahlia, Qalyubia Governorates, and to the west is the Beheira Governorate.
Admin
Hamata Islands (Qulaan Archipelago) in Marsa Alam
Each reserve has several sectors. In Wadi El Gemal Reserve, there is one of the natural areas called the Hamata area or Hamata sector in Wadi El Gemal Reserve. Its sectors are the perfect and most ecological, land and water, and host countless animals and plants found in the oceans and on the land.
