Cairo Marriott Hotel & Omar Khayyam Casino | |
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General information | |
Location | Cairo, Egypt |
Opening | 1982 |
Management | Marriott International |
Technical details | |
Floor count | 19 |
Other information | |
Number of rooms | 1,087 |
Website | |
www.cairomarriotthotel.com |
The Cairo Marriott Hotel is a large hotel located in the Zamalek district of Gezira Island in Egypt and is just west of Downtown Cairo. It is one of the tallest buildings in Cairo. The Marriott opened in 1982, but its central wing was built as the Gezirah Palace for the Khedive Isma'il Pasha in 1869 and converted to a luxury hotel in 1894.
The hotel consists of 1,087 rooms, making it one of the largest hotels in the Middle East. The rooms are located in two identical twenty-story buildings—the Gezira and Zamelek Towers. Situated between them on ground level is the palace and main entrance to the hotel, which—after reconstruction—now contains the reception and administration areas. On the roof of the palace is an open-air theatre which faces the Nile and central Cairo. The hotel is also used for meetings and events; it has 19 meeting rooms and event venues that total more than 28,000 sq ft of space.
The Gezirah Palace was commissioned by Khedive Ismail and designed by Carl von Diebitsch to host French Emperor Napoleon III and his wife Empress Eugénie during the celebration of the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. [1] Ismail asked the architect to make it resemble the Palace of Versailles. [1] In 1880, the palace was seized by Ismail's creditors. It was eventually leased to the Compagnie Internationale des Grands Hotels, who opened it as The Ghezireh Palace Hotel in October 1894. [2] During World War I, the hotel served as the No.2 Australian General Hospital, after the Mena House was unable to cope with the huge number of casualties from the Battle of Gallipoli. In 1919, The Ghezireh Palace Hotel was sold to Syrian businessman Habib Lotfallah and converted back to a private residence. [3] The palace was nationalized by Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1952 [4] and eventually converted back to a hotel, reopening in 1962 as the Omar Khayyam Hotel. [4] In the late 1970s, the two large towers were added and the entire hotel was completely rebuilt. [4] President Hosni Mubarak presided over the grand reopening in 1982 [5] as the Cairo Marriott Hotel. [6]
Isma'il Pasha was the Khedive of Egypt and conqueror of Sudan from 1863 to 1879, when he was removed at the behest of Great Britain. Sharing the ambitious outlook of his grandfather, Muhammad Ali Pasha, he greatly modernized Egypt and Sudan during his reign, investing heavily in industrial and economic development, urbanization, and the expansion of the country's boundaries in Africa.
The Cairo Tower is a free-standing concrete tower in Cairo, Egypt. At 187 m (614 ft), it was the tallest structure in Egypt for 37 years until 1998, when it was surpassed by the Suez Canal overhead powerline crossing. It was the tallest structure in North Africa for 21 years until 1982, when it was surpassed by the Nador transmitter in Morocco. It was the tallest structure in Africa for one year until 1962, when it was surpassed by Sentech Tower in South Africa.
The Cairo Opera House, part of Cairo's National Cultural Centre, is the main performing arts venue in the Egyptian capital. Home to most of Egypt's finest musical groups, it is located on the southern portion of Gezira Island in the Nile River, in the Zamalek district near downtown Cairo.
The Citadel of Cairo or Citadel of Saladin is a medieval Islamic-era fortification in Cairo, Egypt, built by Salah ad-Din (Saladin) and further developed by subsequent Egyptian rulers. It was the seat of government in Egypt and the residence of its rulers for nearly 700 years from the 13th to the 19th centuries. Its location on a promontory of the Mokattam hills near the center of Cairo commands a strategic position overlooking the city and dominating its skyline. When it was constructed it was among the most impressive and ambitious military fortification projects of its time. It is now a preserved historic site, including mosques and museums.
The Egyptian National Library and Archives is located in Nile Corniche, Cairo and is the largest library in Egypt, followed by Al-Azhar University and the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. The Egyptian National Library and Archives are a non-profit government organization.
The JW Marriott Marquis Dubai Hotel is the world's second tallest hotel, a 72-storey, 355 m (1,165 ft) twin-tower skyscraper complex in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The AED1.8 billion complex features a 1,608-room hotel run by Marriott International.
The Sheraton Phoenix Downtown is a $350 million (USD), high rise convention hotel, located on 3rd Street north of Van Buren Street in Downtown Phoenix, Arizona, adjacent to the Arizona Center office/retail complex and the Phoenix Convention Center, which had its North building opened in early 2008. At 31 floors it has surpassed the Hyatt Regency Phoenix, at 24 floors, as the tallest hotel tower in Arizona.
Zamalek is a qism (ward) within the West District in the Western Area of Cairo, Egypt. It is a man-made island which geologically is part of the west bank of the Nile River, with the bahr al-a'ma cut to separate it from the west bank proper. The island is connected with the river banks by four bridges: the Qasr El Nil Bridge, Galaa Bridge, 15th of May Bridge and 6th October Bridge. It has witnessed many phases of growth affected by many economic and political currents which has led to a crowding of parts of the island including great reductions in the Zamalek district's open green areas, but with a large greenbelt across the island's middle.
The Gezirah Palace was one of the Egyptian royal palaces of the Muhammad Ali Dynasty. It is located in the Zamalek district on Gezira Island in the Nile, just west of Downtown Cairo.
Khairy Pasha Palace is a neo-Mameluk building and former palace of Khairy Pasha, located on 113 Qasr El Eyni Street, in Tahrir Square, Cairo. It served as the American University in Cairo's Tahrir Square campus since 1920 until 2008 when the new campus was inaugurated in New Cairo. The building in the photograph on the right was originally the Girls' School of the Greek Community of Cairo. In 1964 it was sold to the AUC and served as the Greek Campus.
The Qasr El Nil Bridge, also commonly spelled Kasr El Nil Bridge, is a historic structure dating from 1931 which replaced the first bridge to span the Nile River in central Cairo, Egypt. It connects Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo to the modern Cairo Opera complex toward the southern end of Gezira Island. At the bridge's east and west approaches are four large bronze lion statues; they are late 19th-century works by Henri Alfred Jacquemart, French sculptor and animalier. The newer and wider 6th October Bridge parallels its route 0.8 kilometres (0.50 mi) just to the north.
Gezira is an island in the Nile, in central Cairo, Egypt. The southern portion of the island contains the Gezira district, and the northern third contains the Zamalek district.
Qasr El Nil Street is a street in downtown Cairo, Egypt, one of the biggest streets in Cairo, with many businesses, restaurants, and an active nightlife.
The Grand Nile Tower Hotel is located on Roda Island in Cairo, Egypt.
The Marriott Mena House Hotel is a hotel located just outside Cairo, Egypt, owned by the Egyptian General Company For Tourism & Hotels (EGOTH). It was built on the site of an 1869 hunting lodge, and in 1890 opened Egypt's first swimming pool.
The New Administrative Capital (NAC) is a new urban community in Cairo Governorate, Egypt and a satellite of Cairo City. It is planned to be Egypt's new capital and has been under construction since 2015. It was announced by the then Egyptian housing minister Mostafa Madbouly at the Egypt Economic Development Conference on 13 March 2015. The capital city is considered one of the programs and projects for economic development, and is part of a larger initiative called Egypt Vision 2030.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Cairo:
Ismail Siddiq, also known as Ismail Siddiq Pasha and Ismail Al Mufash, (1830–1876) was an Egyptian statesman who served as the finance minister from 1868 to 1876. He was one of the prominent members of the dhawāt which refers to noble individuals occupying major offices in Egypt at that period.