Returned to the People: The Transformation of Egyptian Royal Palaces into Museums | ||
| International Journal of Heritage and Museum Studies | ||
| Article 9, Volume 1, Issue 1, October 2019, Pages 129-137 PDF (176.15 K) | ||
| Document Type: Academic peer-reviewed articles | ||
| DOI: 10.21608/ijhms.2019.119030 | ||
| Author | ||
| Hanan Ismail* | ||
| Abstract | ||
| The palaces of Muḥammad ʿAlī’s dynasty cost a fortune to build and maintain. After the 1952 Revolution, most of these palaces were confiscated and became the property of the Egyptian government. Some of them were turned into historical museums. Once opened, the palace museums attracted many visitors. This paper examines how three of these palaces - ‘Abdīn Palace; Farouq Rest House and Manyal Palace - functioned as museums in post-revolutionary Egypt, and how heritage functioned in the process of building the modern Egyptian nation state in the 20th century. These three palaces were opened as historical museums because of their historical, architectural and artistic values. The important symbolic functions of the palaces are reflected in the involvement of the highest politicians in the opening ceremonies. Nowadays, even though the studied palaces are not currently common on the tourist itinerary, they are still part of the cultural program of Egyptian school classes. | ||
| Keywords | ||
| ‘Abdīn Palace; Farouq Rest House; Manyal Palace; historical museums; palaces of Muḥammad ʿAlī’ dynasty | ||
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