The Palaces of Cairo’s Belle Époque

Until recently, late 19th and early 20th architecture received little attention in Egypt, a country where time is measured by millennia. These architectural gems constitute the visual remnants of an extraordinary chapter in the life of the Egyptian capital, an era that has been evocatively – and somewhat arrogantly – called “la Belle Époque” in the literature about modern Egypt. From among the palaces of this period, the article presents an analysis of the palaces of Khedive Ismāʿīl (r. 1863–1879), the palace of Saʿīd Ḥalīm, the Sakākīnī palace, and the Palace of Baron Empain.