The Baron Palace

The historical story of the Baron Empain Palace

The first thing you have to know is who is the owner of the Baron Empain Palace. The palace named after his owner Édouard Empain who was a wealthy Belgian businessman that was interested in the engineering, Industry, and Egyptology. This great mix produced the person who had a passion for building such a great structure. Empain also established the first tram line in Egypt in 1894 when he loved the place and decided to settle in Egypt throughout his life.

Empain did something unusual by choosing a piece of land away from life in Cairo to live in the middle of the desert and built his iconic palace from 1907 to 1911. This desert is now one of the most important cities in modern Egypt, Heliopolis city.

The Baron Palace designing  

A unique palace like this should get built by unusual workers. Empain chooses to create his structure in the Hindu-Khmer architectural style. Then he decided to hire a French architect called Alexandre Marcel to do the palace design and help him in building his new city of Heliopolis.

Marcel used in the palace building the Hennibique reinforced concrete as a new thing to do at that time. Because of Marcel’s creativity, he was responsible for build much more in this city like the famed French Quarter and the Basilica.

The exteriors’ designs of the Baron Palace were imported and inspired by the legends of Hindu and Buddhist. in 1900, the decorations used in the Cambodian pavilion and also the Panorama du Tour du Monde happened in Paris.

Some mysteries about the Baron Palace

The baron palace was closed for many years until 2020, which gave the people the space to tell many spooky tales about what happened in Baron palace and to thought it was a haunted palace. Some of these legends are interesting, others are scary, but both made from this palace something interesting to discover.

The first legend said about the palace is that it has a tower base that can rotate 360° to view the whole of Heliopolis city, but others said it follows the sun’s light.

The palace has a breathtaking spiral staircase that has his spooky tales. The mystery said that the Baron’s wife Helena fell off it and died. Not only the wife’s death happened in the palace but also the daughter, Mariam. There were rumors said she was found dead in the elevator and others said she suicided because of her secret affair with one of the servants.

There was something mysterious in this palace, mainly in the pink bedroom, this room was in the basement, but it was forbidden to enter. People believed it was an enchanted room, leads to secret tunnels that connect the palace with the Basilica, where the Baron buried.

The last legends you can hear about this palace is that the mirrors in the pink room turned red once the Baron died!

After all these legends and mysteries, it’s no surprise that all Egyptians thought it was a haunted palace for many years. But now it’s opened as one of the masterpieces and a fine example of architectural and archaeological beauty.

The perfect timing to visit the Baron Palace

Now the Baron Palace is available to visit from 9 AM till 4 PM. You better discover the palace in the morning to avoid Cairo’s crowds and to enjoy every single part of the place without getting annoyed by the hot sun.

The tickets categories to enter the palace

• The entry tickets: For adults, it costs 100 EGP, for students, it’s 50 EGP
• Rooftop entry tickets: To enter the rooftop of the palace and enjoy the panoramic view of Heliopolis city, you need a separate ticket which costs 50 EGP.

Children are not allowed to enter this roof.

• Photography entry tickets: professional DSLR cameras are allowed to enter the palace with a separate ticket costs 50 EGP. Tripods need extra fees of 20 EGP. But it is good that mobile photography allowed for free inside the place.

We guarantee you will have a great experience in such a beautiful and mysterious palace. You will never have such a great experience elsewhere in the world. During your visit to Egypt, make sure to have the Baron Empain Palace in your itinerary and enjoy taking pictures in every part to save lots of memories there.

You can now plan for your next journey to the Baron Empain Palace with us by choosing the most suitable package for you from here