The History of Zaafarana Palace
Egypt, History, 5/6/2005

The Zaafaran Palace (Saffron Palace), which lies on the campus of Ain Shams, University, maintains a rich history having witnessed several significant incidents that shaped modern Egypt. The palace hosted the signing of the Egyptian-British pact of 1936 and the first meeting of the Arab League.

The palace derives its name from the saffron plantations that surrounded it and was built during the reign of Khedive Ismail. It covers an area of 40 feddans and is surrounded by 100 feddans of gardens.

In the mid 19th century, the land upon which the palace now stands belonged to a rich man named Qostandi Kahin. His heirs went on to sell it off piecemeal, with Khedive Ismail purchasing the plot of land where he built his palace, dedicating it to one of his wives. The palace first occupied an area of one feddan, located in the centre of 40 feddans of gardens.

The palace, designed by the French educated Egyptian architect Moghri bey Saad, consists of three floors. The ground floor included a dinning room that seated 40 people, a large reception hall and two smaller ones. The first floor had eight bedrooms with a private Turkish bath- room tiled with fine marble for each, in addition to a reception hall.

Following the death of Khedive's wife, her heirs sold the palace to the government in return for 1000 feddans of governmental land.

In 1908 the Ministry of Education was handed the palace as a premises for the Fuad I secondary school. 1n 1935, the school was moved to new custom-built premises at Abbassia. The palace was then occupied by the administration of the Egyptian University (now Cairo University) who assigned it to the Faculty of Arts, using the surrounding grounds for other university faculties.

When the Egyptian University moved to its new site in Giza, the foreign ministry bought the palace and turned it into a VIP guest house. According to the palace records, King Emmanuel of Italy was the first to stay at Al Zaafaran.

In 1952 the palace was again converted into university premises but this time being assigned to Ain Shams University, which was then named Khedive Ibrahim University. The Faculty of law occupied the ground floor with the first and second floors being used as administrative offices. In time, modern buildings crept all around to house the rest of the university faculties.

Come the 1950s, the Zaafaran Palace was registered as a historic building. This saw the students and public being removed from the premises and it being used solely for administrative purposes. Dr Abdul Halim Nureddin, the former secretary-general of the SCA, commented that the palace is not being properly utilized as an archaeological asset. He therefore suggests opening the palace at least once a week for students so that they can be better introduced to the history of the palace which in turn represents part of modern Egyptian history.

Previous Stories:
  The Bible, myth and realities: Monotheism, Moses, circumcision, and other practices   (8/21/2003)
  Rare statue of God Amon Temple servant unearthed   (8/15/2003)
  Gowhar As-Siqqili, Founder of Al-Mo'ez' Cairo   (7/7/2003)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search