India to help Egypt in conserving a key tourist destination

India will help Egypt in conserving and maintaining one of its key tourist spots in Cairo. The Baron Palace, also known as Hindu Villa, is facing decay because of lack of appropriate care by the authorities there.

A three-member team of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), the premier organization for archaeological research and protection of the cultural heritage in the country, will soon travel to the African nation to assist it in conserving and maintaining the the palace, which was built in 1905.

The Baron Palace, located in the new city of Heliopolis in Cairo is named after Belgian builder and the resident of Place Baron-General Edouard Louis Joseph Empain. Baron Empain founded Heliopolis district, 10 km from Cairo, as he bought 6,000 acres of land in desert with one Egyptian pound from Nubar Pasha. The palace hosted King Albert and Queen Elizabeth of Belgium during the pre-World War I visit to Egypt.

ASI, which conserves the majority of temples and archaeological sites in India, has lately started spreading its wings abroad with a number of countries submitting proposals to it requesting its expertise in conserving and maintaining historical places, religious and heritage buildings.

The Hindu

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This entry was posted on Monday, September 29th, 2008 at 7:44 am and is filed under Tourism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.