Enany:The opening of Baron Palace by President Sisi shows Egypt's unprecedented support to tourism&antiquities

CAIRO – 30 June 2020: President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi officially inaugurated Baron Palace on June 29.

‘’After two years of hard work, the dream has come true. Tomorrow the Baron Empain Palace opens its doors to visitors. The opening of this iconic monument by H.E President Abd El-Fattah El-Sisi today, shows the unprecedented support Egypt is giving to tourism and antiquities. A heartfelt thank you to all my colleagues who worked with passion and devotion in the restoration project of this iconic monument’’ stated Egypt’s minister of Antiquities and Tourism Khaled el Enany on his official Instagram account on June 29.

Enany said on Monday that developing Baron Palace is one of the most important development projects in Heliopolis.

‘’Baron Palace became a unique artistic place after its restoration’’ Enany said.

Minister of Tourism and Antiquitie further added that as Baron Palace was sold by heirs, its contents were sold in an auction by new owners before becoming state-owned.

‘’A 3D design was made after acquiring drawings of Baron Palace in order to restore its architecture properly’’ Enany recounted.


After two years of hard work the iconic Palace of the Baron Empain, located in the heart of Heliopolis opened its doors to visitors for the first time on Tuesday June 30.

The Palace was built by the Belgian industrialist Edward Empain in 1911, and it’s inspired by Cambodian temples, and bears witness to the story of Heliopolis, dubbed the Sun City.

Starting June 30 Baron Palace visitors will enjoy a sneak peak inside this historic wonder in every sense of the word.

Baron Palace is one of Egypt's most magnificent historic landmarks that was restored to its original splendor.


Baron Palace housed electronic portals, the electronic security system, the lighting system of the display, preparing the multimedia displays, as well as the 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 the 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 includes 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 Enany said a number of important announcements on June 29 such as announcing that Grand Egyptian Museum will be the most important touristic and archaeological opening in 2021

‘’Hurghada Museum was inaugurated in February 2019, the first museum to be implemented in partnership with the private sector’’ Enany recounted stressing that Sohag Museum is one of the most important archaeological openings in 2020.

Minister of Tourism and Antiquites further added that 22 royal mummies will transfer from Egyptian Museum in Tahrir to Egyptian Museum of National civilization in an international convoy.