Muhammad Ali’s Palace in Shubra is a masterpiece that has been in renovation since 2018 and is about to open up for visitors very soon.
The palace was built in 1808 and Muhammad Ali moved there in 1809. The palace follows the style of Turkish palaces on the shores of the Bosporus Strait and the Marmara Sea in the Ottoman Empire.
Muhammad Ali chose this location because it was an empty land that ran along the Nile. It was also a calm district that kept him away from the Mamluks’ evil plots and allowed him to have a sense of security in his house.
The construction of the palace was completed in 1922, more than a century after it started.
The palace consists of a huge beautiful garden surrounded by walls with a few entrance gates.
It originally consisted of 13 buildings and served as a guest house for foreign ambassadors and members of the royal family, as well as the residence of Muhammad Ali.
The palace also includes a Fountain Villa, which was added to the complex in 1821, designed and built by French architects, it is the oldest section of the palace that remains today.
The palace has the first modern system of lighting in Egypt, which was first established in England in 1820.
The palace came under the authority of the Supreme Council of Antiquities in 1978.
