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Egypt’s Minister of Investment and International Cooperation, Sahar Nasr, singed the agreement with the Belgian ambassador to Egypt Sibille de Cartier. In the palatial garden, Egypt’s Minister of Antiquities, Khaled El-Anany, attended the signing in celebration of restoring the palace which is in the final stages.
The agreement states investing the money into the restoration of the place in order to turn into a chronicling gate which announces the history of Heliopolis over the decades.
The EGP 16m fund is a part of the Egyptian-Belgian cooperation in the field of heritage reservation.
The minister of antiquities stated that 85% of the restoration is completed, with a total of EGP 104m, some of which is the Belgian grant.
Investment and International Cooperation Minister Sahar Nasr said in a press release that the fund comes as a part of the ministry’s direction to establish a debt exchange programme in which Egypt settles its debts by using the finances in cultural development projects.
Nasr further added that the ministry targets applying the loan exchange programme with Italy and Germany “as this allows for investing the loans in priority venture and development projects in Egypt.”
The museum is planned to be a documentation to the elite neighbourhood it was built in, Heliopolis. A museum is to be opened at the palace to document the pictures, documents, and archived blueprints of the palace since its establishment.
The restoration of the palace started in 2017. So far, the ministry successfully renovated the ceiling of the building, and its almost worn away front part.
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