Last Tuesday night I slept feeling so sad after knowing the news that 9 priceless paintings were stolen from Mohamed Ali Palace at Shubra El-Khaima !!
Yes 9 priceless paintings were stolen from the Palace that was restored recently in Shubra .These paintings go back to the Mohamed Ali era and already the Mohamed Ali Palace borrowed them from the museums sector in the Culture ministry.
I do not care what is said from the ministry’s side , there is huge neglect.
As usual Farouk Hosni ,the man whom the Egyptian regime is officially nominated to become the director general of the UNESCO expressed his Sorrow and Shock for what happened !! These are the only things he can do : expressing his sorrow and shock !!!
The Mohamed Ali Palace at Shubra El-Khaima is magnificent , it was built on the Turkish Othman style. Recently it was restored L.E 50 Million to host events,parties and weddings !!
You know if this happens to priceless paintings from the Mohamed Ali Era , then what will happen to the 28 boxes full of the Royal Family priceless Jewels that the central Bank Egypt is going to release after decades in its vaults to be exhibited in the Royal Jewels museum in Alexandria ?? My grandfather saw these boxes by the way and wrote about them too , some of them were already stolen and some of them included priceless pieces most people do not understand their value just like those paintings !!
I am quite sure that those who work in the Palace did not know the real value of these paintings because if they did , they would not have depended on surveillance cameras and the tourism police to protect the paintings !!! Yes tourism police that stand outside the Palace !!
I read about this and I felt so very angry and very sad.
ReplyDeleteThis was my favourite place in Cairo. I tried to go there the day before I left on Nov. 10 but it was closed. Under construction/renovation. This was the Palace I walked through with my father and I recall the beautiful courtyard, the lovely mosque inside but mostly I remembered the paintings.
I wanted to visit it again to see the paintings. Every place I visited this trip had changed so drastically. Even in 2 years. And none of the changes were good.
So when I went to visit it with my little cousin who had never been and had lived in Cairo all of his life, I was almost relived that it was closed. I was not looking forward to another beautiful memory that would be tarnished by neglect and deterioration.
Still I'm sad that those beautiful paintins are long gone and in the collection of a private collector. The soldier that stole them probably needed to eat more than he cared about the value of the paintings.
FYI I went to Abdeen palace. Huge disappointment. Most of it is closed off and all of the beautiful, valuable items have long been stolen.
Sigh...
N.American, welcome to Egypt nowadays , the Mohamed Ali Jewels and collections file is a big old sad file, some day insh Allah I want to open just like my father May God bless his soul
ReplyDeleteI do not think that it was a small soldier , my dear the Ministry of culture is a swamp of corruption in a way you can't imagine.
I believe that collector is in Egypt ,someone wants to decorate his palace with some valuable paintings