Egyptian Presidential Palace
Encyclopedia
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Presidential Palace
A Presidential Palace is the official residence of the president in some countries. However, some countries do not call the official residence of a head of state a presidential palace...
s and residences for the executive office of President of Egypt
President of Egypt
The President of the Arab Republic of Egypt is the head of state of Egypt.Under the Constitution of Egypt, the president is also the supreme commander of the armed forces and head of the executive branch of the Egyptian government....
. It is located in the suburb of Heliopolis
Heliopolis (Cairo Suburb)
Modern Heliopolis is a district in Cairo, Egypt. The city was established in 1905 by the Heliopolis Oasis Company, headed by the Belgian industrialist Édouard Louis Joseph, Baron Empain, as well as Boghos Nubar, son of the Egyptian Prime Minister Nubar Pasha.-History:The Baron Empain, a well known...
, northeast of central Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
and east of the Nile
Nile
The Nile is a major north-flowing river in North Africa, generally regarded as the longest river in the world. It is long. It runs through the ten countries of Sudan, South Sudan, Burundi, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Egypt.The Nile has two major...
in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
. It was built as the grand Heliopolis Palace Hotel in 1910. It is currently widely known as Kasr al-Aruba (Arabian Palace) and at times Kasr al-Ittihadiya (Federation Palace), and is for the use of the President of Egypt
President of Egypt
The President of the Arab Republic of Egypt is the head of state of Egypt.Under the Constitution of Egypt, the president is also the supreme commander of the armed forces and head of the executive branch of the Egyptian government....
.
Heliopolis Palace Hotel
The Heliopolis Palace Hotel was built in the open desert from 1908—1910, while development of the new suburb began around it, by the Heliopolis Oases CompanyCairo Electric Railways and Heliopolis Oases Company
The Cairo Electric Railways & Heliopolis Oases Company , is the original name of the Heliopolis Company for Housing and Development , a company formed in Cairo in 1906 in a partnership between a consortium of Belgian developers led by Édouard Empain and Boghos Nubar Pasha, son of the former...
. It was opened as Africa's most luxurious hotel on December 1, 1910.
Design
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Heliopolis style
Heliopolis style is an early 20th century architectural style developed in the new suburb of Heliopolis in eastern Cairo, Egypt. The Belgian Cairo Electric Railways and Heliopolis Oases Company, responsible for planning and developing the new suburb, created the new style to implement an exclusive...
of architecture, a synthesis of Persian
Iranian architecture
Iranian architecture or Persian architecture is the architecture of Iran . It has a continuous history from at least 5000 BCE to the present, with characteristic examples distributed over a vast area from Turkey to North India and the borders of China and from the Caucasus to Zanzibar...
, Moorish Revival, Islamic
Islamic architecture
Islamic architecture encompasses a wide range of both secular and religious styles from the foundation of Islam to the present day, influencing the design and construction of buildings and structures in Islamic culture....
, and European Neoclassical architecture
Neoclassical architecture
Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...
. It was built by the contracting firms Leon Rolin & Co. and Padova, Dentamaro & Ferro, the two largest civil contractors in Egypt then. Siemens & Schuepert of Berlin fitted the hotel's web of electric cables and installations. The utilities were to the most modern standards of their day. The hotel operations were under French administered management.
The Heliopolis architectural style, responsible for many wonderful original buildings in Heliopolis, was exceptionally expressed in the Heliopolis Palace Hotel's exterior and interior design. The hotel had 400 rooms, including 55 private apartments. Beyond the Moorish Revival reception hall two public rooms were lavishly decorated in the Louis XIV and the Louis XV styles. Beyond those was the Central Hall, the primary public dining space with a classic symmetrical and elegant beauty.
The Central Hall's dome, awe inspiring to guests, measured 55 metres (180.4 ft) from floor to ceiling. The 589 square metre hall's architectural interior was designed by Alexander Marcel of the French Institute, and decorated by Georges-Louis Claude. Twenty-two Italian marble column
Column
A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a vertical structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. For the purpose of wind or earthquake engineering, columns may be designed to resist lateral forces...
s circled the parquet floor up to the elaborate ceilings. The hall was carpeted with fine Persian carpets and had large mirrored wall panels and a substantial marble fireplace. To one side of the Central Hal was the Grillroom seating 150 guests, and to the other was the billiards hall, with two full-sized British Thurston billiard tables and a 'priceless' French one. The private banquet halls were quite large and elaborate.
The mahogany furniture was ordered from Maple's of London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. Damascus
Damascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
-made 'East Orient style' lamps, lanterns, and chandeliers hung throughout, suspended like stalactite
Stalactite
A stalactite , "to drip", and meaning "that which drips") is a type of speleothem that hangs from the ceiling of limestone caves. It is a type of dripstone...
pendants. The upper gallery contained oak-paneled reading and card rooms furnished by Krieger of Paris. The basement and staff areas were so large that a narrow gauge railway was installed running the length of the hotel, passing by offices, kitchens, pantries, refrigerators, storerooms and the staff mess.
Guests
Boasted as the most luxurious hotel of the time in Africa and the Middle East, and given its grand architecture, the Heliopolis Palace Hotel became a travel destination for many, including foreign royals and international business tycoons. Guests included John Pierpont Morgan, Milton S. HersheyMilton S. Hershey
Milton Snavely Hershey was an American confectioner, philanthropist, and founder of The Hershey Chocolate Company and the "company town" of Hershey, Pennsylvania....
, and King Albert I
Albert I of Belgium
Albert I reigned as King of the Belgians from 1909 until 1934.-Early life:Born Albert Léopold Clément Marie Meinrad in Brussels, he was the fifth child and second son of Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders, and his wife, Princess Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen...
and Queen Elizabeth of Belgium.
The two world wars interrupted the hotel's hospitality activities, and on both occasions the Heliopolis Palace Hotel was transformed into a British military hospital for British and Dominion soldiers.
Interim
In the 1960s the grand hotel closed. It then was used to house the offices of various government departments. In January 1972, the building became the headquarters of the Federation of Arab RepublicsFederation of Arab Republics
The Federation of Arab Republics was an abortive attempt by Libya's Muammar Gaddafi to merge Libya, Egypt, and Syria, creating an United Arab state...
- the short-lived political union between Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
and Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
, which gave it the current arabic name of Kasr al-Ittihadiya (trans. Federation Palace).
Presidential palace
In the 1980s, after extensive renovation and restoration efforts, the building became an Egyptian presidential palace, and headquarters of the new President Hosni Mubarak administration. Today it is perhaps one of the more restricted presidential palaces regarding access. It is surrounded by simple gardenGarden
A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the display, cultivation, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The garden can incorporate both natural and man-made materials. The most common form today is known as a residential garden, but the term garden has...
s.
Protest
On February 11, 2011, Anti-Mubarak thounsands of demonstrators headed towards the presidential palace to the east of Cairo to take their protest to the president’s front door.See also
- Heliopolis (ancient)Heliopolis (ancient)Heliopolis was one of the oldest cities of ancient Egypt, the capital of the 13th Lower Egyptian nome that was located five miles east of the Nile to the north of the apex of the Nile Delta...
- Heliopolis (Cairo suburb)Heliopolis (Cairo Suburb)Modern Heliopolis is a district in Cairo, Egypt. The city was established in 1905 by the Heliopolis Oasis Company, headed by the Belgian industrialist Édouard Louis Joseph, Baron Empain, as well as Boghos Nubar, son of the Egyptian Prime Minister Nubar Pasha.-History:The Baron Empain, a well known...
- Cairo Electric Railways and Heliopolis Oases CompanyCairo Electric Railways and Heliopolis Oases CompanyThe Cairo Electric Railways & Heliopolis Oases Company , is the original name of the Heliopolis Company for Housing and Development , a company formed in Cairo in 1906 in a partnership between a consortium of Belgian developers led by Édouard Empain and Boghos Nubar Pasha, son of the former...