WHO BUILT THE PALACE... COUNT DRACULA OR BARON EMPAIN?, May 1, 1997

WHO BUILT THE PALACE...
COUNT DRACULA OR BARON EMPAIN?

by Samir Raafat
Egyptian Mail, May 6, 1995

Baron Empain Palace (photo courtesy Judith MacBeth)

EVER SINCE THOUSANDS of bats moved into Heliopolis's most famous landmark, Baron Empain's Hindu Palace has been the subject of innumerable reports some of them stranger than the building itself: Quibbling Gulf heirs talk of transmogrifying the pseudo-Cambodian-Tamil pagoda into Caesar's Palace with gambling casino, Liberacci performers... the whole works. Meanwhile Brussels based Eurocrats deliberate the merits of turning the Belgian baron's heirloom into a spectacular EuroMed center.

Back in Cairo the Egyptian government is still undecided whether they should turn the palace into a desert museum or better still, a Pantheon for Egypt's Greats. But the reports which gets highest marks are the recent headlines claiming the palace dungeon --formerly the baron's servants quarters-- is where Cairo's black-clad, tattooed devil-worshipping youth hold lusty orgies, skin cats and draw rats blood. Makes you wonder whether the palace was built by Baron Empain or Count Dracula.

Turning in his black granite crypt beneath the nearby Byzantine Basilica is the palace's creator, the Belgian-born industrialist, Baron-General Edouard-Louis-Joseph Empain (1852-1929), the visionary author of Heliopolis back. It was shortly after he ordered the construction of Heliopolis in 1907 that he commissioned French architect Alexander Marcel, a member of the prestigious French Institute, to build him a Hindu palace on an artificial elevation. From his terrace, the Baron could watch the rising of Heliopolis against the no less a backdrop then the 4000 year old Giza pyramids.

Shielding the Baron from lesser mortals were lofty neighbors. To his left facing Avenue Baron which stretches southwards towards the pious Baron's Basilica, was the Arabesque palace (now military HQ) of Boghos and Marie Nubar Pasha. He was the son of Nubar Nubarian, the wily Armenian who served several khedives as chief minister and often referred to as Egypt's Bismarck. Well-connected, Nubar fils facilitated Empain's acquisition of 6,000 acres of empty desert at one pound an acre. In return, he was appointed a director of Empain's budding Egypto-Belgian empire.

Diagonally opposite the Hindu Palace, stands the former residence (today a Presidential guest house) of Sultan Hussein Kamel who reigned over Egypt between 1914 and 1917. A childhood friend of Boghos Nubar Pasha he was the only Egyptian monarch ever to live in Heliopolis. His widow, Sultana Malek occupied the palace until the 1950s.

The Hindu Palace's exterior was the responsibility of Marcel. Influenced by a Cambodian Temple, he reproduced a motley of busts, statues, elephants, snakes, Buddha's, shivers and Krishna's. The elaborate interior meanwhile was the responsibility of his French associate, Georges-Louis Claude. They were the same team who had previously constructed and decorated the Oriental Pavilion attached to the Royal Palace of Laeken in Belgium. Later they created at the Paris Exhibition an entire Far Eastern complex.

Although dwindling in numbers, there are those who still remember when the landscape surrounding the Hindu Palace was a wonderland festooned with ascending green terraces each with its own set of erotic marble statues and exotic vegetation. As guests negotiated the terraces on their way to the grand steps leading into the awesome palace foyer, they felt as though some mythical Deus was watching from the palace's interior. These theatrics pleased the Baron to no end. In a letter to his mother, Georges-Louis Claude relates how the marveled Baron "had no criticism in store when we last met." Known to be a stickler for details, Empain gave his workers, employees and advisors, a hard time.

Three generations of Empains occupied the premises. The austere first Baron Empain was of-course a regular and entertained all of Egypt's hotes de marques including King Albert and Queen Elizabeth of the Belgians during their pre WW1 visit to Egypt. The last to live there were Janine and Huguette Empain who much preferred the lounges of the trendy Heliopolis Sporting Club or the Roof Garden of the old Semiramis Hotel to the sepulchral halls of their grandfather's palace. In between there was the playboy son, Baron Jean Empain. He took to entertaining his guests either at the Heliopolis races or at his innumerable palace balls where he cut a dashing figure with his multiple consorts. It was an American cabaret dancer Rozell Rowland a.k.a. Goldie who finally nailed him to the altar. The 'prince' and the showgirl had met in a Cairo night club where she performed painted entirely in gold.

The palace was sold by its owners in 1957. Forty years later and the sheen of this inimitable structure has gone. It hasn't just faded, it's been stripped away. Gone are the fresco murals and massive gilded doors. Gone also are the balustrades, the beautifully designed parquet floors and the gold plated doorknobs. Even the famed Belgian mirrors were wrenched from their sockets. Instead of guilded ceilings, bat droppings are everywhere making it impossible to believe this was once the nexus of economic power and the toast of the international café society.

No doubt incredible stories will continue to come out of this palace and its lost fortunes. None however will be more unbelievable than the one about the priceless architectural treasure left to decay and crumble in full view of every minister, VIP, tourist and other air passenger as they motor up the airport road on their way in or out of Cairo.

UPDATE :

cover story al-akhbar Just one month before the official centennial celebrations of Heliopolis (1905-2005), Akhbar al-Yom (19 March 2005) announced that the state had recently acquired the Baron Empain Palace from its incumbent owners the Ali Reza family of Saudi Arabia, with the intention of turning it into a museum. As to how the palace was 'acquired' was not mentioned.

This announcement comes in the footsteps of the March 9-11 visit by First Lady Suzanne Mubarak to Belgium, the birthplace of Baron Edouard Empain. Mrs. Mubarak is the honorary president of the Heliopolis Association, a quasi watchdog group, which aims at maintaining and preserving the special character of the city of Heliopolis

Regretfully Mr. Aboul Seoud's journalistic abilities are confined to praise-writing. History is most definitely not his forte. His sorry attempts to give readers a perspective of the palace and its origins fall short of conveying the real story. Instead, he relates ludicrous fables riddled with factual inaccuracies and fictitious dates. In one of his less harmless concoctions, the writer claims that an envious Sultan Hussein Kamel of Egypt tried to coerce the baron into offering him his palace, and that in order to get out of the dicey situation the latter built him another palace nearby. Well Mr. Aboul Seoud, the palace was built and inaugurated several years BEFORE the Sultan ascended (19 December 1914) the throne of Egypt. Moreover, the blueprint for Heliopolis was prepared and put into execution BEFORE the palace was built and not vice-versa!

If on the one hand we should disregard Aboul Seoud's fables, we must nevertheless digest with graciousness the archetypal journalistic flatteries he showers on the First Lady. We should rejoice that thanks to her the inimitable palace has been saved and that once again it shall shine as a beacon of the extraordinary architecture Empain's Heliopolis has become world famous for.

For Ahram Weekly's coverage on related story click here

Picture of Hindu palace with writer of this article in foreground.

This article has been plagiarized (unlawfuly copied and passing it on as her own) by Heba Fatteen Bizzari in her write-up entitled The Baron's Palace Fables, Legends and Controversies. http://culture.infomideast.com/culture18.html

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