Qubba Palace

The Palace bears witness to a plethora of weddings, including inter alia the wedding of King Fouad I and Queen Nazli in May 1919 and the marriage ceremony of King Farouk and Queen Farida in January 1938. The Palace is also the bystander of the funeral ceremony of King Fouad I.

During the reign of King Fouad I, Qubba Palace was annexed to the royal palaces housing the ruling workplace.

Qubba Palace cradled the first speech of King Farouk ever transmitted during the momentous inaugural radio broadcast on 8 May 1936, post the return of King Farouk from England after the demise of King Fouad I.

It was déjà vu for the Shah of Iran when he sought political asylum in Egypt in 1979.

This palace was built by a group of Egyptian, Turkish, French and Italian engineers on multi- phases.

Total area of the Palace stretches to reach 190 feddans approximately annexed to a 750495.34 square meters of lush gardens harboring rare groves and plants, to which some date back to the era of Khedive Ismael.

The Palace wall extends 450 meters from the northern side and 400 meters from the southern one. The western and eastern sections go as far as 1800 meters.

Access to the Palace is accentuated via eight entrances; the main gate is located at the south side with a hallway leading to the ground floor. Exquisite ornaments add to the beauty of the entrance topped by Siris wood. The ceiling is magnified by magnificent gilded geometric ornaments and embossments. Qubba Palace houses a myriad of unrivaled pieces of French furniture marking Louis XVI style enveloped by paintings of world class artists contemporary to this specific epoch.

Qubba Palace comprises two colossal symmetric floors quartering 400 rooms and halls.

Ground floor:

Comprises court, main salon, ministers’ salon, dining room and royal office. The ground floor boasts of a second-to-none collection of world class artists and prodigious Belgian mirrors ornamenting the inner walls. Beauty per se is depicted in an assembly of French chandeliers made of an exquisite blend of bronze and crystal and coalesced in mesmerizing Louis XVI furniture.

Upper floor:

Composed of a spacious court overlooking the main façade of the palace and the exuberant gardens. The Periphery of the court is decorated by rare paintings of public prominent figures intimate to the royal family. At one side stands a huge cupboard boasting of musical instruments playing own-melodies without human interference, of no resemblance elsewhere. The court is linked to residential wings via a bronze and marble-made suspended bridge. All along the corridors conjoining wings stand several rare statues, colored-wood, turtle-shell furniture plus alluring paintings.

Total area of the Palace stretches to reach 190 feddans approximately annexed to a 750495.34 square meters of lush gardens harboring rare groves and plants, to which some date back to the era of Khedive Ismael.

Following the contemporary dominant classical style of the time, the palace was built by a group of Egyptian, Turkish, French and Italian engineers on multi-phases.

An eclectic collection of unparalleled furniture and artifacts from the four corners of the globe i.e. western, oriental, Arab and Chinese were cherry-picked to occupy Qubba Palace.

After the 1952 Revolution, Qubba palace became the official palace in which world delegations and presidents were received. Accordingly, it became among the most important palaces in Egypt. President Gamal Abdel Nasser used to receive there the official visitors to Egypt.

On Thursday, September 27, 2018, the Egyptian Gazette published a decree issued by the Minister of Antiquities, Khalid El-Anani, to register the Qubba Palace and its annexes in Cairo in the Islamic and Coptic monuments archive.