In old books and classical movies or in the world of storytelling in general, historical places always witnessed several tales and tragedies!
The tragedies that tell us that there was life, with all its meaning, in that place, people lived and enjoyed their days with all its beautiful and sad moments, and of course with its all tragedies because this is life as we know, full of unexpected moments and events. Every corner and district of Egypt has such stories. Its streets tell a lot, but what Aisha Fahmy's Palace tells us is near to the novels. Are you excited to read this novel?
THE START OF THE STORY
One day, in 1907, on the shore of the Nile in the neighborhood of Zamalek, Egypt, one of the most beautiful palaces in Cairo was built by Ali Fahmy Pasha, brother of Aisha Fahmy, Aisha Fahmy. Designed by the famous Italian architect at that time, Antonio Lachak, the palace was built in the classical style. But this is not the whole start.
Fahmy Pasha had four daughters Fatima, Aisha, Aziza and Zainab and only one boy Ali. He enjoyed his life so that the press nicknamed him "the Prince of Youth."
Ali Fahmy was less than twenty years old when he became one of the wealthiest people in the country after he inherited his father’s wealth. He spent money lavishly, lived a leisurely life, knew many women, went to nightclubs, and his news filled society tabloids of that time.
He built the palace and spent a lot of money on it to look like an architectural masterpiece, and he brought the most expensive furniture from Europe. The young Egyptian millionaire ended up falling in love with a French woman called Marguerite Miller.
As a result of the spouses' different cultures, the differences and problems between them increased. After only six months of marriage, in the summer of 1923 and during a trip to London, a quarrel broke out between them, and Margaret fired three bullets at her husband, killing him.
Soheir Abdel Hamid, a researcher in the history of Egyptian palaces, pointed out that the palace witnessed many events between stories of marriage, divorce, murder and betrayal as if it had put a curse on its owners.
The world-famous English lawyer Sir Marshall Moll, was responsible for the case, and he asked for the innocence of his client Margaret Miller, accusing the husband of being ‘an eastern savage’.
Marshall's argument in the case turned it from being a quarrel between a married couple, which ended with a crime, to a conflict between the East and the West. Miller obtained her acquittal after days of deliberations in court and came to Egypt to claim her share of her husband's estate, and although she was acquitted in London under the act of self-defense, she failed because there is a legitimate legal rule in Egypt that the murderer has no right to the inheritance of the murdered. Then, the palace became the property of Ali's sister, Aisha Fahmy.
THE PALACE IN THE SHADE OF AISHA FAHMY’S PRESENCE
Aisha Fahmy was the daughter of the great Pasha Fahmy, Oran of King Fouad I. On May 6, 1924, after her father’s death, Aisha bought her sisters' share in the palace, thus owning the property, for the amount of 72 thousand pounds. Her first marriage was to Ahmed Saeed, an obstetrician and gynecologist, and then she married the late artist Youssef Wehbe. Wehbe was inspired by the story of his brother-in-law, Ali Fahmy, to produce his movie "Awlad Al-Zawat" which was the first Egyptian film that Egyptians watched in 1932.
It was about the Easterners, and it showed European women in a way that angered them, so the European newspapers attacked him and demanded that it be banned. It was said that this movie was the reason for the divorce of Youssef and Aisha.
Aisha loved Youssef Wehbe very much to the extent that she asked for a divorce from her previous husband and paid 100,000 pounds at the time to him to agree to the divorce.
Youssef Wehbe wrote in his book "I lived a thousand years" that like any successful artist, his fame began to increase with the increase in his works and successes, and thus the increase in the number of fans around him, which naturally led to an increase in his wife's jealousy over him.
Aisha Fahmy was afraid of losing her husband for whom she had fought her family. She did many strange things to make sure he did not betray her. For example, she appointed spies to monitor him to find out the places he went to and the people he met as she suspected him of having a relationship with her best friend. Aisha began watching all his movements and behaviors.
Although the relationship began with Aisha mentoring Youssef’s artistic journey in the beginning, she became his source of misery because of her possessiveness. The matter ended with him feeling he is in prison, and they got divorced.
Aisha expelled him from the palace, and she kept thinking of a way to take revenge on him until she had the idea to marry the Monologist Mahmoud Shokoko.
Angered by her marriage, Youssef Wehbe decided that he must spoil this marriage – in this he had the support of Aisha’s family also as they too disapproved of the marriage. After many failed attempts, the two parties succeed in pressuring Shokoko to divorce her, and they got divorced in a strange scene, similar to movie scenes.
Although Aisha lived in one of the most stunning and luxurious palaces in Egypt, she did not find happiness. She lived in the palace until she passed away in 1962, and her story in the palace ended.
In 1975, Youssef El Sebaei, the former Minister of Culture, annexed the palace to the Arts and Letters Authority and the Fine Arts Sector.
In 1978, a republican decision was issued to allocate it as a museum for the jewels of the Muhammad Ali family, but it was canceled by another republican decision in 1986, after allocating the Fatima Haider Palace in Alexandria as a museum of jewels and the Fahmy Palace returned once again to the disposal of the Ministry of Culture to become a complex of arts which is open to the public until now.
The palace's rooms are distinguished by the presence of silk and linen panels and the European motifs on the sides of the walls.
Aisha Fahmy Palace consists of two floors. The first floor consists of 6 rooms, and a large hall in the middle of which is a statue called the thinker, and it contains several paintings, including the painting of a harp player by Santer.
The palace features a charming view of the Nile, and it contains several paintings by foreign artists, including a painting of a war battle and another of the Colossi of Memnon.
On the second floor, there are many rooms of special archaeological style, including the Japanese room which was dedicated to Aisha Fahmy and designed for her. In this room, there are some Japanese words and pictures engraved on the walls.
The palace also includes a private dressing room as well as bathrooms which are distinguished by the heater that worked with gas. All indicate the presence of complete luxury enjoyed by Aisha Fahmy at that time.
