Prince Amr Ibrahim Palace

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Prince Amr Ibrahim Palace
Prince Amr Ibrahim Palace Islamic Ceramic Museum entrance.jpg
Entrance to the Islamic Ceramic Museum
Prince Amr Ibrahim Palace
General information
Architectural styleNeo-Ottoman
Town or city Zamalek
CountryEgypt
Coordinates 30°03′19″N31°13′33″E / 30.0552°N 31.2257°E / 30.0552; 31.2257
Completed1921;104 years ago (1921)
Cost200 million Euros ($257m)
ClientPrince Amr Ibrahim
Technical details
Size850 square meters
Design and construction
Architect(s)Garo Balyan

The Prince Amr Ibrahim Palace is a historical building in Cairo's Zamalek island, which is used as the Egypt's first ceramics museum, the Museum of Islamic Ceramics and as an art center.

Contents

History and location

The palace is located in the Gezira area, an island in the Nile, of Zamalek in Cairo. [1] It was built on the orders of Prince Amr Ibrahim (1903–1977), member of the Muhammad Ali dynasty, in 1921. [2] [3] [4] Prince Amr Ibrahim was the husband of Necla Sultan, granddaughter of Ottoman ruler Mehmed VI, also known as Vahideddin. [5] The architect of the building was Garo Balyan, the youngest member of the Balyan family. [6] The cost of the construction was about 200 million euros ($257 million). [4]

The palace was used by Prince Amr Ibrahim and his wife, Necla Sultan, as a summer residence. [7] [8]

Style and layout

The architectural style of the palace is neo-Ottoman [9] and neo-Islamic. [10] It also reflects dominant styles of the Muhammad Ali dynasty in terms of its architectural and decorative style. [11] There are also Moroccan and Andalusian influences in the architecture of the palace. [10]

Total area of the building is 850 square meters. [7] [12] It is made of a basement and two floors. [7] In the entrance hall there is a marble fountain decorated with blue ceramics. [1] The palace is surrounded by a 2,800 square meter garden. [13]

Use

The palace became a state property on 9 November 1953 following the 1952 coup d'etat in Egypt. [9] [14] [15] It was first employed as a club by the Arab Socialist Union until 1971. [16] From 1971 the building was employed by the Ministry of Culture as an exhibition gallery for paintings endowed by former Prime Minister Mohammed Mahmoud Khalil. [13]

In 1998 the building was renovated by the Egyptian architect Aly Raafat [7] and became home to the Museum of Islamic Ceramics in February 1999. [16] [17] The Museum was reopened after further extensive renovations in October 2024. [18] Entree to the palace and museum is free of charge. [19]

The museum collections are organized by time periods and place of origin: upon entering the palace, the foyer with a fountain of colored marble in its center, opens to the Fatimid era collection to the right and to the Turkish hall to the left. Both rooms have functional fireplaces made with ceramic tilework and in the typical conical shape from Turkey [19] ,. [20]

The former dining room, now housing the collection of ceramics from the Fatimid era also contains precious carved wooden furniture with mother of pearl inlays. To the left of the foyer, the room hosting the Turkish ceramics leads to another room displaying representative ceramics made in Egypt during the Ayoubi, Mamluk, Osmani and Umayyad periods. [19]

The upper floor display is organized in the galery around the dome for Iranian collections and other rare pieces of miscelanous origin, such as Tunisian Qallaline ceramic tiles. The first floor consisted of a private bathroom for the Prince with a cold and warm water szstem imported from Italy, a small appartment now housing 12th & 13th century Syrian ceramics from Raqqa, and a changing room with an entire wall closet closed by woden pannels decorated with mother of pearl inlays. [20]

References

  1. 1 2 El Aref, Nevine (4–10 March 1999). "Take some steps back in time". Al Ahram (419). Archived from the original on 21 May 2008.
  2. ↑ "Famille Souveraine". Egypt e dantan. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  3. ↑ "Museum of Islamic Ceramics: Beautiful Browsing for the History-phobes". Cairo 360. 17 March 2010. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  4. 1 2 "Egypt: The return of the King?". Al Jazeera. 8 July 2013. Archived from the original on 24 July 2013. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  5. ↑ Murat Bardakçı (8 October 2006). "Mustafa Kemal, önceki gün vefat eden Neclá Sultan'ın annesiyle evlenmek istemişti". Hürriyet (in Turkish). Retrieved 4 September 2021.
  6. ↑ Samir Raafat. "Cairo's belle époque architects 1900 - 1950". EGY. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  7. 1 2 3 4 "Museum of Islamic Ceramics". Egypt Holidays Directory. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  8. ↑ Jonathan M. Bloom; Sheila Blair, eds. (2009). The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press. p. 49. ISBN   978-0-19-530991-1.
  9. 1 2 Samir Raafat (4 February 1999). "The Palace of Prince Amr Ibrahim". Cairo Times. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  10. 1 2 Mohamed Ahmed Abdelrahman Ibrahim Enab (Winter 2019). "Saray of Prince Amr Ibrahim in Zamalek Archaeological and documental study in the light of a new document published for the first time". Journal of General Union of Arab Archaeologists. 20 (1).
  11. ↑ "Gezira Art Center". DI-EGY Festival. 2013. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  12. ↑ "Architecture in Egypt". MIT. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  13. 1 2 Yasser Talaat (23 February 1999). "Middle East's First Museum of Islamic Ceramics". Inter Press Service . Cairo. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  14. ↑ "History of Zamalek". Zamalek 101. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
  15. ↑ Matthew Carrington (2008). Frommer's Egypt. John Wiley & Sons. p. 82. ISBN   978-0-470-40343-3.
  16. 1 2 "The China syndrome". Al Ahram Weekly (557). 25–31 October 2001. Archived from the original on 13 September 2009.
  17. ↑ "Islamic Ceramic Museum". Eternal Egypt. Retrieved 28 June 2011.
  18. ↑ Galil, Tarek A. el (22 October 2024). "Egypt's Museum of Islamic Ceramics Reopens after 14-Year Restoration Project". Al-Fanar Media. Retrieved 23 January 2025.
  19. 1 2 3 Nawar, Belal (17 October 2024). "Rediscovering Artistry: A Journey Through the Islamic Ceramics Museum | Egyptian Streets" . Retrieved 23 January 2025.
  20. 1 2 "Museum of Islamic Ceramics". 30 April 2023.
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