Overview - Royal Jewelry Museum in Alexandria

CAIRO – 18 August 2017: The Royal Jewelry Museum, located at 27 Ahmed Yahya Street in Alexandria, is one of the largest museums in all of Egypt. Filled with fantastic art and jewelry handed from Egyptian royalty such as Mohammed Ali, the museum is a valuable piece of heritage in both artistic and historical terms.

The history of the museum starts in 1919, when it was originally the palace of Princess Fatima Al-Zahraa Haidar, of the Egyptian royal family, daughter of Lady Zeinab Fahmy and Prince Prince Ali Heidar Shanassy.


Portrait of Lady Zeinab Fahmy via the Museum's Official Facebook

After Zeinab's death, Fatima decorated the palace to her lavish tastes and turned the entire palace into a work of architectural wonder, with gilded ceilings. A large collection of statues and oil paintings are present in the museum, showing Fatima's deep love of art and beauty.

The Palace incorporated European aesthetic elements such as stained glass and rococo art, and architects from France, Italy and Belgium were brought in for construction. The two-story palace became the Museum in 1986 following a special Presidential decree of preservation for the royal family's Jewelry.


Corridor in the Royal Jewelry Museum via the Museum's Official Facebook

Amongst some of the museums roughly 11,000 pieces of fine jewelry include royal badges with King Farouk's name, inlaid with diamonds, and the magnificent jewelry collection of Farouk's wife, Queen Farida.


Queen Farida's platinum bracelets with white and yellow diamonds via the Museum's official Facebook

Other parts of King Farouk's collection are his ebony walking stick, gold and sapphire cups embedded with over 200 bits of sapphire and 29 pieces of diamond, and golden magnifying glasses inlaid with 510 diamonds and 16 rubies and sapphires. Seeing these extravagant items in person would be truly unforgettable!


Farouk's Gold magnifying glasses via the Museum's Official Facebook

The Museum underwent a 5 year renovation and was once again open to the public in 2010. It currently runs for the entire week from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.


Staircase via the Museum's Official Facebook page