Manial Palace poised to open full collection
Manial Palace, built by Prince Tewfik on an island in the Nile, houses an eclectic collection of furniture and other decorative arts.
Cairo's luxurious Manial Palace, on Roda, an island in the Nile, represents the desire of a 19th-century prince to combine the best examples of Islamic architecture with European art nouveau. Prince Mohammed Ali Tewfik, called Prince Tewfik, the uncle and regent of King Farouk, set out to create an eclectic palace embracing such different styles as Mamluk and Ottoman.
The walls and archways of Manial Palace were inspired by Persian, Syrian, Moroccan, Andalusian motifs and European rococo. The prince, an avid traveler and collector, adorned the rooms with furniture and objets d’art that included carpets from all over the Middle East, tiles from Kutahya, in western Turkey, and swords from Jerusalem. The construction of the main building and a “garden of a thousand delights” lasted 30 years, from 1899 to 1929.
