Egypt's royal jewellery now on display at Alexandria museum

[DJKeefy]

In the elegant Alexandria district of Zizinya stands the Royal Jewellery Museum, its neoclassical architecture welcoming its visitors after three years of closure.

The museum shut its doors shortly after the outbreak of the January 2011 uprising for security reasons.

After all, the museum includes a collection of over 900 pieces of jewellery from the family of Mohamed Ali, the founder of modern Egypt.

The museum reopened on Sunday – refurbished, with new touches inside – in the presence of Antiquities Minister Mamdouh El-Damaty, Alexandria's governor and other top officials from the ministry.

El-Damaty said the re-opening is part of the ministry's goal to open up other museums after restoration periods. He added that the jewellery museum contributes to Egypt's important story from when it was a monarchy.

Indeed, the building itself is part of that era. Ahmed Sharaf, head of the ministry's museums section, said the museum's edifice was originally built as a summer palace for the family of Zeinab Fahmy, wife of a descendant of Mohamed Ali.

Upon her death Fahmy left the palace to her daughter, princess Fatima El-Zahraa, who added an east wing that was connected to the rest of the building by a corridor. An Italian architect did the interior design of the palace.

Following the 1952 revolution – and the end of the monarchy – the palace was taken over by the government, though El-Zahraa was allowed to live in it during her lifetime. In 1964, she left Alexandria and handed the palace to the government for good.

When she died in 1983, the palace was used briefly as a presidential rest house. Former president Hosni Mubarak issued a decree in 1986 designating the palace as a new museum for the royal jewellery collection.

The museum includes some 11,550 artefacts, 924 of which are on display, that were once the personal possessions and gifts belonging to the family and descendants of Mohamed Ali.

Among them are magnificent pieces owned by Mohamed Ali himself and his son Said Pasha, as well as members of the family up to King Fouad and his first wife, Princess Shuvekar. Queen Nazli, mother of King Farouk, Egypt's last king, and Farouk's wife, Queen Farida, also owned valuable pieces that are now in the museum, some of them designed and created by the French firm Boucheron.

The collection includes a luxury chess set owned by Mohamed Ali, a coffee set inlaid with silver and embellished with gold, a set of gold glassware decorated with 977 diamonds and a number of medals and decorations. Gold cosmetics boxes and other items engraved with the initials of Queen Nazli are also among the jewels created by the French house of Van Cleef and Arpels. Other notable pieces include a set of jewels owned by the sisters of King Farouk, princess Fawzia, first wife of Reza Pahlavi, the former shah of Iran, and Princess Fayza.

There is an Indian-inspired set originally owned by Queen Nariman, the second wife of Farouk. Jewels belonging to Princess Samiha and Princess Qadriya Hussein Kamel are also on show, as are medallions worn by Prince Youssef Kamal and Prince Mohamed Ali Tawfik.

Source: http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/113425.aspx

[A-Four]

Good news indeed, at last, and even more will be coming very soon, within the next couple of weeks, that the first part of the new Egyptian Museum in Old Cairo will open to the public.

I also hear that there is to be a concerted push by the central government of Egypt to complete the area that so many of us know as the open air museum of Luxor. There is also a rumour that this whole area will be taken out of the hands of the Luxor authorities,........Remember, I said rumour, so don't hold me to it.

[HEPZIBAH]

This museum sounds fantastic and much more up my street than dried up old mummies. Another reason why I must stop letting visiting Alexandria slip down my 'Must Visit' list.

[LovelyLadyLux]

Would love to go and see the jewelry myself and would also love to visit Alex.

Do you really think the jewels on display are real? Or do you believe they're excellent copies with the real jewels carefully safely stored away?

[Glyphdoctor]

Yes, they are real. It's a great museum. Not just for the jewelery but the palace itself is over-the-top in its decoration.

[HEPZIBAH]

Do you really think the jewels on display are real? Or do you believe they're excellent copies with the real jewels carefully safely stored away?

Real or good copies, I can't help but think they will make my collection of genuine gemstones look like sweepings from the floor.

[LovelyLadyLux]

I just wonder IF museums and other institutions do display the "real" McCoy. I think they do but then I wonder if given the possibility of theft and the rare nature of the jewels if they really do chance losing them forever in a robbery.

On another note I'm sure they're lovely to see and are something I will definitely add to the bucket list......so many things too see and places to go and so little time

Am quite sure they'd make my collection of baubles and bangles look pretty insignificant