In pics: What you need to know about inauguration of Baron Palace by President Sisi

CAIRO – 29 June 2020: President Abdel Fatah el-Sisi officially inaugurated Baron Palace on June 29.

Egypt’s Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Khaled el-Anany said that developing and restoring the Baron Palace is one of the most important development projects in Heliopolis.

"Baron Palace has become a unique artistic place after its restoration," Anany said.
The minister added that as Baron Palace was sold by heirs, its contents were sold in an auction by the new owners before becoming state-owned.

"A 3D design was made after acquiring drawings of the Baron Palace in order to restore its architecture properly," Anany recounted.

The Baron Palace is one of Egypt's most magnificent historic landmarks that were restored to its original splendour.

The palace now houses electronic portals, electronic security system, lighting system of the display, multimedia displays, and culturama areas made to serve the visitors.

The one of a kind historical palace is tailor made to display the history of Heliopolis throughout the ages. The palace will take its visitors on a trip to the past when Baron Empain began establishing Heliopolis and building its famous palace.

One of the old Heliopolis trams was restored to be exhibited in the palace's garden. This is in addition to exhibiting the old cars that existed in the streets of Cairo during the 20s and 30s of the last century.

The Baron Palace will include a distinguished display of pictures, archival documents, drawings of the palace, maps and films about Heliopolis.

Heliopolis was founded by Baron Empain through the modern re-use of Islamic architecture to establish a city tolerant to all races and religions.

The colors of the facades of the Baron Palace are the same as the original colors, where those in charge of restoration carried out all the necessary tests, analyses, as well as photographic and architectural documentation to develop the necessary restoration plans using scientific methods.

The new color is the same as the original color of the Baron Palace, but the impact of weather and time caused people to believe the palace's color changed after its restoration. The restoration experts had to brush away layers of dust and dirt to get the original color.

According to the minister of antiquities, the wall that was removed at the palace is not an archaeological wall and was only installed 14 years ago.

The minister stressed that none of the original palace's walls was demolished.

It is worth mentioning that Anany made a number of important announcements on June 29, most importantly announcing that the opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum will be the most important touristic and archaeological event in 2021.

"Hurghada Museum was inaugurated in February 2019, the first museum to be implemented in partnership with the private sector," Anany added, stressing that opening the Sohag Museum is one of the most important archaeological events in 2020.


The minister further added that 22 royal mummies will be transferred from the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir to the Egyptian Museum of National civilization in an international celebration.