In the last article we explored the political and social conditions under which the idea of Abdeen Palace was developed. When Ismail Pasha came to power in 1863, he started reformatting Cairo into a modern city with a governing palace. He bought the small palace of Abdeen Bey, a member of the Mamlouk corps, along with its surroundings, demolished it and used the whole area to build the Abdeen palace we know today. That’s why the area was and still is called Abdeen district and consequently the palace as Abdeen Palace.
The palace was designed in a Neo-Classical French inspired style. The chief architect that supervised the construction was the French architect Leon Rousseau. The palace was composed of two floors. The upper floor contained both the Salamlek (the main quarter) and the Haramlek (Family quarter), which contradicted the old tradition of separating them in different buildings. The ground floor was dedicated to the different services such as guards’ quarters, storerooms…etc.
Abdeen palace witnessed the succession of the Egyptian rulers starting with Khedive Ismail followed by Khedive Tewfik, then khedive Abbas Helmi II, Sultan Hussein Kamel, King Fouad and finally King Farouk. During every reign, the palace had witnessed important events.
In 1879, Khedive Ismail handed in the decree of his abdication in Abdeen Palace Salon.
He then left the country on “Al Mahrousa” yacht to Naples, Italy and was replaced by his son Mohamed Tewfik Pasha. Strange enough, the same story was repeated with King Farouk about 70 years later.
In 1881, the army General Ahmed Orabi led a military demonstration in the square in front of the palace asking for the removal of the cabinet of Riyad Pasha and the formation of a nationalist cabinet, in addition to more participation of Egyptian officers in the management of the army. This incident was used as a pretext for the British army to intervene and bombard Alexandria in 1882. Finally, Orabi was arrested and imprisoned in the palace before he moved to his exile in Ceylon.
In 1891, a big fire broke in the palace while the royal family was spending summer at Ras El Tin Palace in Alexandria, destroying the Haramlek wing and the royal guards’ quarter. The palace was not restored back to its original state until 1907 when Antonio Lasciac became the chief Architect of the royal palaces and started the work of restoration in 1909 that lasted until 1911.
In the reign of King Fouad many additions were developed under the supervision of the new chief architect of the royal palaces Ernesto Verrucci that we will be talking about in the next article.
In 1938, during the reign of King Farouk, the Palace witnessed his fairy wedding to queen Farida. In the same year, the palace hosted the Royal wedding of princess Fawzia, sister of king Farouk, to the Iranian crown prince Mohamed Reza Pahlavi.
In 1942 the palace fell under siege of the British troops asking the king to dismiss the cabinet and appoint El Nahas Pasha as prime minister.
Finally, on the 23rd of July 1952, the palace was surrounded by the Egyptian army as part of the Egyptian revolution and king Farouk who was in Alexandria was asked to resign. He left the country on the same yacht “Al Mahrousa” heading to Naples in Italy like his grand father Ismail did 70 years earlier.
