Sakakini Palace

Habib Pasha El Sakakini Palace (Arabic: قصر السكاكيني) is a palace located in the El Sakkakini district of Cairo, Egypt. Built in 1897 by Habib Sakakini, it is considered as one of Egypt's most important palaces due to its Rococo-style architecture. Despite its unique architectural design, the palace has been neglected for years since 1923. As a result, the government attempted to restore the palace to its original state. As of 2024, the palace is currently undergoing restoration. History The origins of Sakakini Palace comes from the 19th century, when Habib Pasha Sakakini moved from Damascus at the age of 16 so as to work at the Suez Canal Company. He worked there for four years before moving to Cairo. As a rich contractor, he metamorphosed the area, which would later become the Sakkakini neighbourhood, from a swampy area to a residential district. Upon selecting the site for his new home, Sakakini chose the site in the convergence of eight roads. It was claimed that he obtained the site through a public auction. The site was a lake which was known as the Turkmen Karaja (Qajara) lake. In 1892, the lake was dried out in order to prepare for the construction of the palace, and construction would be complete in 1897. After Sakakini died in 1923, his heirs distributed parts of his wealth; ultimately, the palace was donated to the government, and one of his descendents gave a portion to the Ministry of Health. In 1961, the Health Education Museum moved to the palace, where it remained there until 1983, when the museum moved to the Technical Institute in Imbaba at the degree of the Ministry of Health; the palace soon became under the authority of the Supreme Council of Antiquities. In 1987, the palace was registered as an Islamic monument. In 2016, a short circuit in the guardroom in the palace basement resulted in a fire there, damaging the outer layer of the wooden ceiling. However, other parts of the palace was undamaged including the columns that supported the ceiling, and the damaged ceiling would be restored. Restoration After the death of Sakakini in 1923 and the subsequent death of his descendents and the owners, the palace has been in a state of neglect for years. During the reign of Farouk of Egypt in the 1940s, the king made attempts to care for the palace and other monuments; but after the 1952 Egyptian revolution, the heirs gave the palace to the new government in order to avoid the same fate. The palace has also been pludered during its neglect; a statue of a girl with a crown is missing, and other statues have been broken or damaged. President Hosni Mubarak attempted to restore the palace by dedicating $1 million to a restoration project; however, the efforts turned out to be poor, with the palace and its door painted green and yellow respectively, destructing its unique historical features. There were other attempts to restore the palace. An instance is an initiative proposed by Dr. Zahi Hawas in 2003 where he recommended restoration and conversion of the palace into a medical museum; however, it was never implemented. Overview The Sakakini Palace is located in Al Sakakini square where eight streets meet. It is built on an area of 2,698 square metres (29,040 sq ft) and is surrounded by iron railings and a small garden with some statues. The palace has five floors with fifty rooms and 400 windows and doors. The first floor has four rooms and the second floor has seven halls and two additional rooms. The main hall covers 600 square metres (6,500 sq ft) of space and has six doors leading to the other halls in the palace. There is also an elevator that leads up to a living room, which overlooks a domed balcony. Architecture The Sakakini Palace was built in the Rococo architectural design. The palace has a total of 300 statues scattered outside and inside. The entrance consists of two statues engraved in the walls, as well as two lions alabaster statues before the door. Letters H and S are also engraved above the entrance. The western entrance has Sakakini's name inscribed in Arabic, along with the year 1897 in Eastern Arabic numerals. The main entrance's doors lead to a decorated hall which leads to other rooms with decorated walls and ceilings. The external façade of the palace is decorated with the squares occupied by four circular towers, which are cupped with ribbed round domes. There is also another dome above an octagonal pavilion. Statues of Sakakini, his wife, and four pairs of children are found on the handrails of first-floor bedrooms' balconies. There are also statues of four maidens representing the seasons. Each statue stands alone on an urn inside a niche. The maiden statues' arrangement softens the edges of the palace to give it the effect of an octagon. The niches have Sakakini's initials H and S inscribed in four different styles on top of each. Gallery References External links