Egypt Monuments Highlights

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Amir Taz Palace : Islamic

The Amir Taz Palace was a palace built by an emir that started to be known in the time of Sultan Al-Saleh and then became more prominent when his brother Al-Saleh Hajji became a ruler of the Bahri dynasty of the Mamluks. His name was Seif el-Deen Taz. Taz’s palace was built in 1352. It was a large palace with an area of around 8000 m2. The palace went through several phases over the years. In the last quarter of the 19th century, the palace was turned into a girls school, and then later it became a storage place for the ministry of education, where the palace had thousands of books, some caravans and lots of junk. The palace continued to be in a very poor condition as it was neglected for a very long time, to an extent that the walls of the palace started to crack. In 1992, the strong earthquake that struck Cairo further damaged the palace and in 2002 the palace was about to completely fall down, before the ministry of antiquities emergently started a revival mission of the palace, and in a very tough project the palace was successfully restored.

The palace consists of a very spacious square courtyard surrounded on its four sides by the main and secondary palace parts, of which the most important are the harem, the main building, the stable and other smaller parts. Today, only two facades of the palace remain from its original construction, which are the front and the back facade (the front facade lies on Suyufiyya street). During the major reconstruction of the palace that took place in 2002, a lot of the destroyed parts of the palace, especially the marble, granite, metal and lime parts that decorated the walls, were recovered, along with also lots of the colored walls and painting, which were all used in the reconstruction of the palace. A part of the harem section of the palace was restored and is one of the parts that remain from the original image of the palace. The harem section has several windows of a great aesthetic value made of precious wood. The harem’s windows have a view on the courtyard of the palace. The main building of the palace has two iwans with beautiful wall decorations and an inscription with the name of emir Taz’s name. Today, the palace is open for tourists in the morning and also hosts several artistic workshops for the children, and at night the palace hosts musical concerts.

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