"Musafir Khana" is a beautiful palace that was built in the 18th century by the head of merchants' guild in Cairo as you can see from its description in Tour Egypt website. In the 19th century it was bought by Mohamed Ali Pasha , which makes it a Royal palace. It was famous not only for its beauty and size but also for being the birthplace of Khedive Ismail Pasha.
In 1998 it was destroyed in huge suspicious fire and after a decade despite the a LE 25 million restoration plan the high supreme council of antiquities had declared when the fire took place , it went from bad to worse to worst.
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| To restore Musafir Khana |
Most Egyptians did not know that the "Musafir Khana" exists in the first place till Youm 7 shocked us all with condition the palace has reached to : A safe haven for junkies. I usually criticize Youm 7 coverage but this time I have to tell journalist Wael El-Samri : Hats off sir, this is what the journalist should do. After this report which generated a lot of reaction, the supreme council of antiquities had to speak and to defend itself:
The restoration works will start in two months
We could not restore it in the past because we had for the restoration studies and research at the same time the construction materials have been to expensive lately !!The palace was destroyed in the fire from 12 years ago and they are speaking about the construction materials now !!??
I do not know if it is the irony or what but the birthplace of Khedive Ismail was burnt just like the Opera house he built and inaugurated as the first Opera house in the Middle East , even more stranger the high supreme council of antiquities has decided to restore the palace and the government decided to rebuild the opera house in its old location in 2010.
I intended to write about Musafir Khana when Youm 7 first broke the story yet I was busy and today after reading the new discovery of Zahi Hawas which Farouk Hosni held a press conference for , I had to write about the palace because if Youm 7 did not show us the palace now , it would continue to be a junkie haven after being the khedival birthplace !! Both Farouk Hosni and Zahi Hawas are required to explain to us how that palace was completely forgotten for a more than 10 years !!
I hoped that after that report Farouk Hosni , who once hoped to be the curator of the world culture and history heritage and Zahi Hawas , who was officially appointed as the head of the supreme council of antiquities in Egypt "and antiquities here mean all Egyptian antiquities not only the ancient antiquities" to held an immediate press conference at the Musafir Khana palace and to announce the immediate restoration works not to mention Dr. Hosni is demanded to explain why the palace has not been restored all that time and where did the LE 25 million allocated to the Palace restoration go !!??
Technorati Tags: Citizen Journalism,Egypt,Culture,History,Media,Zahi Hawas,National,Farouk Hosni,antiquities,Khedive Ismail,Cairo
