Views of the Baron Palace Heliopolis

                           February 2005

The Baron Palace (or The Hindu Villa, as it was once know to locals) is a famous landmark of Helopolis.

Built as the private residence of the creator of Heliopolis  - The Baron -  a Belgian businessman, who created the vision of a desert paradise - Modern Heliopolis.  He lived in the Palace, followed by his son, but after the revolution which took place in 1952, they left and the villa was sold.  Legal problems followed and the new owners never did anything with the Palace and it was left to decay for over 40 years.

In 2005 (the 100 year celebration of Heliopolis) the Egyptian government bought the Palace and started to bring its gardens back to life.  Renovation of the house has not started yet, and it will be difficult and very costly. For now the grounds are just used for TV events and musical concerts.

A large number of photos of the interior of the Palace have been posted on TripAdvisor by the writer of this insider review. They were taken in 2005, when the Palace was open to the public for a brief period and the opportunity to take these special photos was fully used.

Prior to that date it was not allowed for anyone to enter and the only way was to bribe the guard, which many people did.

For years bats lived in the Baron Palace, and young people got in at night and damaged it further with their graffiti.

So for now you can admire this great and strange local landmark from a distance, and through TripAdvisor can see photographs taken in 2005.