Sara Hammad
Oh Lord!
It is that dark place in which dust lay over every surface like dirty snow, old tea cups lay on a coffee table thickly filled with dried up mould, an absolute silence, not even the hum of a refrigerator.
Paints were in need of loving care, the furniture lay still without the warmth of its family, It felt so alone, so empty.
How long had it been since it heard the laughter of a precious child? How long had it been since it felt the coolness of fresh paint or contained the fragrance of Sunday dinner?
It is more like a a long-abandoned prison rather than a once glamorous mansion.
It was not only devoid of the living, but was also haunted by the dead. Lights are dimmed and turned on and off, chairs moved a little bit from their place, brawl and shoutings were heard, fire breaked-out on its own and blood was seen on the walls.
Umm, what is really behind the scenes! Is it haunted and there are ghosts!
Hold your breath, don't panic and let me take you in a trip to explore 5 most ironic rumours about the Abounded mansion "Baron Palace".
Screaming voices!
Guards of Baron Palace talk about hearing brawl and shoutings from inside the palace, as if the Baron himself and his sister were arguing.
Chairs are moving!
They also tell that they heard sounds of furniture being transferred between different rooms of the palace in the middle of the night.
Enchanted bloody room!
It is that Rosary room in the basement of the palace that Baron had forbid anyone from entering even his daughter and his sister Helena. The room's door open into the yard of Basilica church in which Baron was buried after death. Sayings suggested that he practiced talismans in it and that its walls were stained with blood after Baron's death.
Glow of flames!
Passers-by tell they witnessed fire breaking-out in the main room of the palace, and soon the fire stopped by itself. As if there's a "ghost" that switched it on and off.
Devil slaves!
They are a group of young Egyptians used to sneak into the palace at night and hold loud parties, dance and celebrate. That is why neighbors hesitated about seeing flashes of lights and loud noises every night inside the palace.
Folk tales suggest that the death of Baroness "Helena", Baron's sister, is the spark of the ghost stories that emerged suddenly about the Empain palace.
Baroness Helena fell from the balcony of her room while the Baron was sitting in the rotating room. Thus, he couldn't manage to help her. So some people believe that it is Baroness Helena spirit who blown a curse to the palace as a kind of revenge from the Baron for being late to rescue her.
People of Heliopolis district believe that Edward Empain had prepared the spirit of his sister to apologize to her and that she refused his apology which made him depressed and eventually died out of sadness.
Consequently and after all those rumors, Qasr El Baron was abounded after the Empain's death in 1929 and due to prolonged royal feuds, it was rented out for social events or movie scenes only.
Of course it wasn't built to be abounded or haunted by the dead, certainly the Baron established it for a reason. What is the occasion and why it was built!
Here we go on our next trip to explore a brief history about the Palace.
"Qasr el Baron" is a historic mansion in Heliopolis, Orouba Street Salah Salem.
It was Built by Belgian millionaire Baron Edward Empain who came to Egypt by the end of 19th century, little after Suez channel opening. He was named 'Barron' by the King of France as a sign of appreciation to his efforts in building Paris metro station.
As soon as Baron arrived, he adored Egypt to madness and decided to stay in it till his death. He even willed to be buried in Egypt wherever he dies.
So The Baron took a step towards building a residence for him to live in. He wanted a place in the desert near Cairo and settled to East Cairo.
Then he offered the Egyptian government to establish a whole neighborhood in East Cairo and called it 'Heliopolis, city of the sun'.
He wanted to attract people to live in the new neighborhood and in order to achieve this, he built the Heliopolis Metro which connects the neighborhood to Cairo.
The Baron had lived in India and was fascinated by Indian architecture so he chose an Indian style for his palace. The construction of the palace began in 1907 and ended in 1911. The interior of the palace is small, it has only two floors with 7 rooms.
Restoration and Reopening:
A restoration plan for the palace had started in 2007 and stopped in 2011 due to the revolution events. However, the work of restoration was resumed in 2016/2017 as a project implemented by Egyptian Ministry in cooperation with the Belgian embassy and civil society associations in Egypt.
The Belgian government contributed to the project with 16 million pounds and Egypt with 104 million pounds.
By February 2020 97% of the total restoration work was completed. On March 9, 2020 Brigadier Hisham Samir, Assistant Minister of Antiquities for Engineering Affairs explained that the work inside and outside the Baron Palace had completely finished and the ministry is ready to open it at any time.
The opening of the palace will be in the form of an exhibition which narrates the history of Heliopolis neighborhood and includes a set of pictures, documents and paintings in addition to its most important heritages.
The price of the entry tickets is even set to be 100 pounds for the foreigner and 50 for the foreign student, and for the Egyptians 20 pounds and 10 for students. In addition, all Egyptians over 60 years will have a free entry.
Egypt has always been a country of architectural masterpieces therefore, consider visiting this fascinating palace after the quarantine and enjoy Egypt's fascinating landmarks.
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