Disclaimer: This post is dedicated to Mohamed Ali Royal Family of Egypt and not the controversial whistleblower Mohamed Ali and his family and yes I am "riding the trend" to spread something useful 🙈🤐😎
You have seen
the photos of Aisha Fahmy Palace aka Centre of Arts in Zamalek, now it is turn to see the photos of that exhibit yours truly went to cover there in March 2019.
The exhibit was called “Features of an era: The Mohamed Ali Family” and it featured for the first in public paintings mostly from portraits, statues of the former Egyptian ruling family as well as some of its positions.
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Three generations of Mohamed Ali Royal Family including its founder Mohamed Ali Pasha in
one photo |
Most of the paintings and statues were removed from the royal palaces and public squares following the coup of July 1952 and the declaration of the republic in June 1953.
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| Another three generations of Mohamed Ali Family appearing in one shot |
For decades they were kept hidden in warehouses.
Currently, they are kept at the so-called “Revolution Commandership” Museum in Zamalek which should be re-inaugurated soon according to the statements of ministry of culture and the ministry of antiquities.
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| The real bizarre revolution commandership museum from Cairo's Nile !! |
The exhibit was the third of series of exhibits held by the Centre aimed to highlight the forgotten or less known antiquities in Egyptian museums.
It is a nice idea and a successful one too.
According to the officials, 25 thousand
people visited the exhibit.
The entrance was for free and you can use your mobile phone for photography for free without using flash.
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| Snapping a photo of Khedive Ismail and his sons appear in the photo too |
This rule allowed the center to attract thousands of young visitors who are looking for a nice place to spend their day at, snap selfies and see nice old historical stuff.
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Checking how the photo looks like on their mobile phones and Khedive Said and Khedive Ismail make
an appearance in the background. |
I had to get a special permit from Centre’s director to allow professional photography inside the museum.
Needless to say, it was a privilege and a challenge at the same time because just like any other museum in Egypt, it is poor lit with no consideration what so ever that there would be professional photographers who are ready to pay money to snap photos that help eventually promoting tourism in the country.
It is one of the reasons why I published the full album so late.
Nevertheless, in some instances, that poor lighting settings gave the scene a bit dramatic touch.
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Ibrahim Pasha is considered one of the greatest military
leaders of the Egyptian army in the Modern as well as ancient times |
Like in this case of Ibrahim Pasha’s painting and bust.
Already that day I woke up late and hurried to the Palace and began to shot without realizing that my lens was not set properly in its place on the camera and I wasted a whole hour why the photos are so shitty aside from the bad lighting.
A couple of photos here were taken while the lens was not in its place properly for history “The girls and their mobile phones”
I shot the first floor twice.
Anyhow, let’s see what I shot on that day.
This is a the first part of a post series about the exhibit as I can’t post all the photos in one post. I want you to come back again to the blog🙊🙈
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| The original Mohamed Ali Pasha portrait we know from history books |
The original Albanian Mohamed Ali who founded the New Egyptian Modern state in the 19th century.
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| It is unclear the exact date of this oil painting but my guess it was made between 1810-1940 |
It deserved to be shot from different angles.
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| I mean how can I ignore this angle !? |
There were also other paintings for the Pasha.
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| The Pasha had that fierce look in his day |
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| Ibrahim Pasha |
Till this day, Mohamed Ali's son is considered among Egypt’s greatest army commanders in Modern history.
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| The least popular ruler of Mohamed Ali Royal dynasty without any doubt till this day |
Probably one of the most hated Khedives or rulers in the Egyptian Modern history.
The man who supported the British invasion and occupation to Egypt and Sudan crushing Orbai’s revolution.
On the other hand, his wife
Princess Emina IIhamy was highly respected for her charity works in the country.
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| After his exile, there was a popular chant in the Egyptian street that we know till now "Abbas is coming" |
Unlike his father Khedive Tawfik was popular.His popularity increased after his exile.
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| The controversial King Fouad I |
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| King Farouk the duck hunter |
This painting depicting King Farouk as a duck hunter in Fayoum reminds me with that real news that was published in 1950 in Al-Musawar Magazine under the title “ HRH the King hunts 344 duck and the ambassador of India hunts down one duck”.
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| Famous article :)) |
People mock this news and share it as an example of the long-time-hypocrisy in the Egyptian media towards the Egyptian rulers.
Yet, a historical fact that can be proved by photos, Farouk was fond of hunting ducks and he even got a pond named after him in Giza’s Dahshour.
He also used to hunt down ducks in
Fayoum’s Qaron lake. I do know about numbers of ducks he hunted down in the trip.
Now the following artifacts are the first part of my favorite paintings, statues and busts in the exhibit.
The undated marble bust of Ibrahim Pasha
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| The marble bust of Ibrahim Pasha |
Young Khedive Ismail when he was young , a teenager.
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| Khedive Ismail in his teenagehood |
Khedive Ismail’s undated bronze bust when he grew older
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| Khedive Ismail |
King Fouad’s un-restored undated painting. I do not know if the conversation and restoration will make it lose its beauty.
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| King Fouad I of Egypt and Sudan |
I like it more his original and official portrait by Riyadh Pasha Shehata.And his undated bronze bust too.
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| King Fouad I's bronze bust |
This is the first part of my visit to that exhibit.
One post is not enough to share all the beautiful stuff there so keep your eyes for the second part of this series
Nice!
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