Culture activist Sally Soliman spoke on her twitter account about what happening and is happening to Mohamed Ali Palace in Shubra El Kheima and it is not good.
First of all Mohamed Ali Palace in Shubra is one of the most oldest and beautiful palaces remaining from Mohamed Ali Era itself. Mohamed Ali Pasha ordered its construction in 1808. The construction of that palace finished in 1812.
The Palace is built like the Palaces in Istanbul , extremely beautiful.
It was neglected for years yet in 2000 the minister of culture then Farouk Hosni suddenly remembered. Not less than LE50 millions were allocated then for the restoration works in the neglect palace. About 14 experts in the restorations of palaces from Italy and France were brought in to help in its restoration.
In 2005 it was re-inaugurated by Mubarak in a very big celebration. Of course since then we knew that the palace was being rented for big galas , parties and weddings especially for the VIPs like former NDP leading member and policy maker Mohammed Kamel "He is still in the scene and last thing I know about him was being an adviser to Ahmed Shafik."
Now Soliman shocked us and told us online that part of the palace is collapsing.
Part of the Palace , one of
its dooms collapsed in 2012 and nobody paid attention as usual. Al Ahram Daily published a report then with a picture and nobody moved a muscle. Yes I know we are in transitional period , difficult and soon on but this will be not forever the case.
It seems that the was corruption as usual in the restoration works. In 2010 Al Masry Al Youm published a report with a video about the neglect in the palace and how the paint used in the restoration works began to collapse after only 5 years of the restoration work.
Sally Soliman raised important matter. If you remember I wrote once that old original paintings were stolen in 2009 from the palace and suddenly resurfaced in matter of days in some mystery. Up till now we do not know who stole those paintings and why they were returned and more important : Where the paintings are now !?
Allegedly they are in some warehouse.
Another thing she says during the restoration works there were rumors that the original crystal chandeliers from Beligum and Italy were being replaced by Egyptian ones.
Here is a slide show with photos from the beautiful palace that can bring to Egypt a lot of cash if you treat it like the Turks and their palaces. If the history talk does not work , the money talk does.
Below the series of Soliman's tweets in Arabic.
First of all Mohamed Ali Palace in Shubra is one of the most oldest and beautiful palaces remaining from Mohamed Ali Era itself. Mohamed Ali Pasha ordered its construction in 1808. The construction of that palace finished in 1812.
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| A painting showing the palace during the day of the Pasha |
It was neglected for years yet in 2000 the minister of culture then Farouk Hosni suddenly remembered. Not less than LE50 millions were allocated then for the restoration works in the neglect palace. About 14 experts in the restorations of palaces from Italy and France were brought in to help in its restoration.
In 2005 it was re-inaugurated by Mubarak in a very big celebration. Of course since then we knew that the palace was being rented for big galas , parties and weddings especially for the VIPs like former NDP leading member and policy maker Mohammed Kamel "He is still in the scene and last thing I know about him was being an adviser to Ahmed Shafik."
Now Soliman shocked us and told us online that part of the palace is collapsing.
Part of the Palace , one of
its dooms collapsed in 2012 and nobody paid attention as usual. Al Ahram Daily published a report then with a picture and nobody moved a muscle. Yes I know we are in transitional period , difficult and soon on but this will be not forever the case.
It seems that the was corruption as usual in the restoration works. In 2010 Al Masry Al Youm published a report with a video about the neglect in the palace and how the paint used in the restoration works began to collapse after only 5 years of the restoration work.
Sally Soliman raised important matter. If you remember I wrote once that old original paintings were stolen in 2009 from the palace and suddenly resurfaced in matter of days in some mystery. Up till now we do not know who stole those paintings and why they were returned and more important : Where the paintings are now !?
Allegedly they are in some warehouse.
Another thing she says during the restoration works there were rumors that the original crystal chandeliers from Beligum and Italy were being replaced by Egyptian ones.
Here is a slide show with photos from the beautiful palace that can bring to Egypt a lot of cash if you treat it like the Turks and their palaces. If the history talk does not work , the money talk does.
Below the series of Soliman's tweets in Arabic.
Fascinating place!
ReplyDeleteEgypt is a Republic, a Socialistic People's Republic and renovating such imperialist palaces is an insult to the July Revolution and Leader Abdel Nasser.
ReplyDeleteYes. It looks like it would make a pretty good military barracks or homeless shelter. And why shouldn't the peasants be allowed to wash their laundry in that big swimming pool?
DeleteAre you serious! in that sense they should bring down the Karnak and Abu Simbel and every ancient Egyptian temple as well since their religion conflicts with the current majority!!! some people's ignorance is the real "insult" to Egypt
DeleteThank you very much for great information about a place that I did not know that it existed. It is too bad that Egyptians have no regard for their ancient or even modern history
ReplyDeleteSuch a tragedy - I attended a conference dinner there back in 2008 and took some photographs, which I am glad I did now, as this palace may crumble into the dust
ReplyDeleteHere are the photographs of the palace as it looked in September 2008 when I was fortunate to attend our Coptic symposium dinner which was held at the palace http://www.flickr.com/photos/howiemj/sets/72157633527541677/
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know if we can still go visit the palace? I've decided this year that I would explore my beautiful country and the history that I have passed by day in and day out. Maybe if there was present interest in the palace and other historical monuments it would gain some attention from the government and the ministry.
ReplyDelete