Cairo's Manial Palace - one man's private passion

Manial Palace or the Museum of Mohamed Ali Palace was our next sightseeing stop after our Saqarra visit.  It is rather unique because it was built to satisfy the passion of one man for architecture and his love for detailing. The outside is quite simple. A large wall, a gate. You pay the fee and enter. Many school children and to my surprise, newly married couples coming here....for photo shoots.  

The Manial Palace and Museum is a former Alawiyya dynasty era palace and grounds on Rhoda Island on the Nile. It is located in the Sharia Al-Saray area in the El-Manial district of southern Cairo. The palace and estate has been preserved as a historic house museum  which reflected the settings and lifestyle of the late 19^th and early 20^th C Egyptian royal prince and heir apparent. The residence compound composed of five separate and distinctively styled buildings. The estate is surrounded by Persian gardens within an extensive English Landscape park which is not open to the public.

 

The reception hall is on the right side from the entrance. It consists of two floors. The ground floor has two rooms. There was the ceremonies room meant for receiving official visits. There was also a VIP room designed to host those who came for prayers, especially on Fridays. The upper floor has two rooms – the Syrian room attached to a smaller room for women. There is also the Moroccan room so called due to its furnishings.

The Palace was built by Prince Mohammed Ali Tewfik (1875—1955), the uncle of King Farouk. He had it designed in a style integrating European Art Nouveau and Rococo with many traditional Islamic architecture styles including Ottoman, Moorish, Persian creating inspired combinations in spatial design, architectural and interior decorations. He did not stinge in the materials. It housed his extensive art, furniture, clothing, silver, objets d'art collection and  medieval manuscripts dating back to the Middle Ages. None of this was shown in the public spaces. The ceramic tile work of the entry way and the mosque were created by the Armenian ceramist David Ohannessian, originally from Kutahya.

The mosque is small and private. It is obvious that it was built for family and friends to worship. We were told by our guide that the mosque here is unique in that it is the only mosque in Egypt which had a complete marble runner at the back along all the three sides where the faithful can safely keep their slippers / shoes during prayers. 

The Residence Hall or Main Palace building has two floors. We were only allowed to see the ground floor rooms which have the Fountain Hall, the Hall of Mirrors, the Blue Salon, the Harem the Prince’s office, library and dining room, Pearl Salon and a fire place. The upper floor has the Arabesque room, the Jewellery Room, the Prince’s bedroom and bathrooms and the servant’s room. 

The Throne Hall is interesting as it has a series of large portraits of various pashas. It is popular for the photo shoots too. Reports have it that the Prince built this room as a reminder to the Alawi Family members that he had the right to rule after his father and brother. They say that the structure is built in the “kiosk” style popular in the Bosporus banks of Turkey at that time.  The first floor had paintings of natural landscapes and of the pashas.   The second floor is called “Obession Room” because the walls are covered with “obession” fabric made in France. These fabrics were made for Mohd Ali’s grandfather and the rooms were used apparently only in winter as there is a fire place copied from an Istanbul design. I could not find any reference to this particular type of fabric. 

In the garden, we saw many young ladies dressed up in expensive looking clothes... Omar our guide said it was normal wear for holidays

The security guard approached me and in sign language asked for my phone. I did not know what he was doing especially as he went five feet away from me and aimed it at the wall. Then he gave the camera... he had clicked several photos of me such that I was picture in picture with Ismail Pasha !! Rather a sweet gesture and a great memento of the visit. 

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