Abdeen Palace Museum:
Abdeen is a former royal palace, part of which is now open to the public as a museum that embraces several collections. These include displays of weaponry, presidential gifts, royal acquisitions, and silver plate.
From the time of Salah ad-Din in the 12th century, Egypt was ruled from the safety of the Citadel (see pp 104- 7), but the tradition was broken 700 years later by Khedive Ismail, who
ordered a new European-style residence to be built on the edge of his new city. Designed by the French architect Rousseau, the 500-roomed palace was begun in 1863 and took over ten years to complete. Over the years, it was constantly remodeled and expanded, with the addition, in the 1930s, of a Byzantine throne room.
Following the overthrow of King Farouk in 1952, the Abdeen Palace was vacated but later put to its present use as a venue for receiving visiting heads of state.
In the late 1980s, President Mubarak ordered that the palace is restored. The work took longer than anticipated because the palace was hit by the 1992 earthquake. The Abdeen Palace museum was inaugurated by the president in 1998.
Entered via neat gardens at the rear of the palace, the Abdeen Palace museum occupies a complex of unadorned halls; the more
Entrance to Abdeen Palace, museum and gardens extravagantly decorated staterooms remain off-limits to the public. A lot of space is given over to the collection of guns, swords, and daggers, many of which were gifts to Egypt’s various khedives, kings and presidents.
There are also displays of medals and other decorations, as well as a room of awards and gifts presented to President Mubarak. A silverware section contains a display of silver, crystal and objets d’art belonging to the family of Pasha Mohammed Ali.
Centrally located in the museum is the fountain courtyard, where the fountain is surrounded by the busts of Mohammed Ali, Khedive Ismail and King Fuad I.
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