Édouard Louis Joseph, 1st Baron Empain (20 September 1852 – 22 July 1929), was a wealthy Walloon Belgian engineer, entrepreneur, financier and

industrialist A business magnate, also known as an industrialist or tycoon, is a person who is a powerful entrepreneur and investor who controls, through personal enterprise ownership or a dominant shareholding position, a firm or industry whose goods or ser ...

, as well as an amateur

Egyptologist Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Greek , ''-logia''; ) is the scientific study of ancient Egypt. The topics studied include ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end ...

. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

he became a known major general. His major claims to fame are being the original winner of the contract to build the Paris Metro, and developing the town of Heliopolis in

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

Early life

Empain was born at Belœil,

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

, and was the son of schoolteacherTHE BELGIANS OF EGYPT, 13 May 1995
at www.egy.com François Julien Empain and his wife Catherine (née Lolivier). He went into business with his brother, Baron François Empain and other family members, and amassed a great fortune. Empain began his career a draughtsman at a metallurgical company, Société métallurgique, in 1878,EMPAIN Edouard
at www.wallonie-en-ligne.net and became involved in railway construction when he noticed that transport infrastructure in the countryside was inadequate. After success in Belgium with the

Liège Liège ( ; ; ; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the Liège Province, province of Liège, Belgium. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east o ...

- Jemeppe line, his companies developed several railway lines in France, including the creation of the

Paris Métro The Paris Métro (, , or , ), short for Métropolitain (), is a rapid transit system serving the Paris metropolitan area in France. A symbol of the city, it is known for its density within the capital's territorial limits, uniform architectur ...

. Because he felt that he depended too much on the banks for his industrial plans, in 1881 he founded his own bank, Banque Empain, which later became the Belgian Industrial Bank (''"Banque Industrielle Belge"''). The Empain group of companies expanded greatly throughout the 1890s, constructing electric urban tramlines in Europe as well as railways in

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, the

Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (, ; ) was a Belgian colonial empire, Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960 and became the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville). The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Repu ...

, and in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

. Desiring to also be independent of electricity producers, Empain also was involved in forming a number of electricity companies to power his projects. In 1901, Empain became a close friend of the then-ruling King Leopold II, who was the sole owner of the Congo Free State. Empain created a railway network in the Congo, based out of Stanleyville.

Egypt

Édouard Empain arrived in Egypt in January 1904, intending to rescue one of the projects of his company ''S.A. des Chemins de Fer de la Basse-Egypte''; being the construction of a railway line linking Mansourah (on the

Nile The Nile (also known as the Nile River or River Nile) is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa. It has historically been considered the List of river sy ...

river) to Matariya (on the far side of

Lake Manzala Lake Manzala ( ''baḥīrat manzala''), also Manzaleh, is a brackish lake, sometimes called a lagoon, in northeastern Egypt on the Nile Delta near Port Said and a few miles from the ancient ruins at Tanis.Dinar, p.51 It is the largest of the nort ...

from

Port Said Port Said ( , , ) is a port city that lies in the northeast Egypt extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, straddling the west bank of the northern mouth of the Suez Canal. The city is the capital city, capital of the Port S ...

).BELGIAN COMPANIES IN EGYPT*
at www.booneshares.com In 1906, Empain established the

Cairo Electric Railways and Heliopolis Oases Company The Cairo Electric Railways & Heliopolis Oases Company () was formed in Cairo, Egypt in 1906 to develop a 25 square kilometer plot of land into the Heliopolis suburb. It was nationalised in 1960, and remained a state-owned enterprise until it wa ...

, which bought a very large stretch of desert (25 square kilometres) to the northeast of Cairo at a low price from the Egyptian government. Commencing in 1906 this company proceeded with the building of the new town of Heliopolis, in the desert, ten kilometres from the center of

. It was designed as a "city of luxury and leisure", with broad avenues and equipped with all necessary conveniences and infrastructure; water, drains, electricity, hotel facilities, such as the Heliopolis Palace Hotel (formerly the

presidential palace A presidential palace is the official residence of the president in some countries. Some presidential palaces were once the official residences to monarchs in former monarchies that were preserved during those states' transition into republics. ...

of ex-President

Hosni Mubarak Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak (; 4 May 1928 – 25 February 2020) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the fourth president of Egypt from 1981 to 2011 and the 41st Prime Minister of Egypt, prime minister from 1981 to ...

) and Heliopolis House, and recreational amenities including a golf course, racetrack and park. In addition, there was housing for rent, offered in a range of innovative design types targeting specific social classes with detached and terraced villas, apartment buildings,

tenement block A tenement is a type of building shared by multiple dwellings, typically with flats or apartments on each floor and with shared entrance stairway access. They are common on the British Isles, particularly in Scotland. In the medieval Old Town, i ...

s with balcony access and workers' bungalows. Today, Baron Empain is perhaps best known by modern visitors to Egypt for the building of a palace (the ''Palais Hindou'') in the Avenue des Palais (renamed Orouba Avenue following the

Egyptian Revolution of 1952 The Egyptian revolution of 1952, also known as the 1952 coup d'état () and the 23 July Revolution (), was a period of profound political, economic, and societal change in Egypt. On 23 July 1952, the revolution began with the toppling of King ...

) Heliopolis, Egypt. The Baron Empain palace was designed by French architect Alexandre Marcel (1860–1928) and decorated by Georges-Louis Claude (1879–1963), with construction being completed in 1911. In 1905, Empain assisted the Belgian government in the purchase of an

Old Kingdom In ancient Egyptian history, the Old Kingdom is the period spanning –2200 BC. It is also known as the "Age of the Pyramids" or the "Age of the Pyramid Builders", as it encompasses the reigns of the great pyramid-builders of the Fourth Dynast ...

mastaba A mastaba ( , or ), also mastabah or mastabat) is a type of ancient Egyptian tomb in the form of a flat-roofed, rectangular structure with inward sloping sides, constructed out of mudbricks or limestone. These edifices marked the burial sites ...

for the royal museum in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, of which he was a benefactor. In 1907 he received the title of

Baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...

, and also suggested to Belgian Egyptologist

Jean Capart Jean Capart (February 21, 1877 – June 16, 1947) was a Belgium, Belgian Egyptologist, who is often considered the "Father of Belgian Egyptology". Biography Capart was born to Alphonse Capart, an Otorhinolaryngology, otolaryngologist, and Alid ...

that he excavate at Heliopolis, where his building constructions were underway. He also made it possible for Capart to acquire some fine ancient artefacts for the Brussels Museum.

Military career

During

, he was given the rank of general and directed armaments production at Paris and

Le Havre Le Havre is a major port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the Seine, river Seine on the English Channel, Channe ...

for the Belgian army. He died in

Woluwe The Woluwe (; ) is a stream that flows through several municipalities in the south-east and east of Brussels, Belgium, and is a right tributary of the Senne in Vilvoorde. The Kleine (little) Maalbeek is a tributary of the Woluwe in Kraainem. M ...

, and was buried in Our Lady of Heliopolis Basilica (''Basilique Notre-Dame d'Héliopolis''). In Egypt. He was succeeded as baron by his son, Jean Empain, who married American

burlesque A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects.

performer Rozell Rowland (sometimes Rozelle Rowland). They entertained frequently at the Heliopolis. Jean, 2nd Baron Empain, was succeeded by their son, Édouard-Jean Empain.

Honours

* : ** Honorary Aide-de-camp of the HM the King. ** War Cross ** Grand Officer in the Order of Leopold. * : Knight grand Cross of the

Order of the Nile The Order of the Nile (''Kiladat El Nil'') was established in 1915 and was one of the Kingdom of Egypt's principal orders until the monarchy was abolished in 1953. It was then reconstituted as the Republic of Egypt's highest state honor. Sulta ...

. * : Knight grand Cross of the

Order of Isabella the Catholic The Royal Order of Isabella the Catholic (; Abbreviation, Abbr.: OYC) is a knighthood and one of the three preeminent Order of merit, orders of merit bestowed by the Kingdom of Spain, alongside the Order of Charles III (established in 1771) and ...

* : Companion of the Most Honourable Military Order of the Bath. * : Commander of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

Notes

External links

*A
article from the ''Egyptian Mail''
by Samir Raafat, on the founding of the Cairo Electric Railways & Heliopolis Oases Company. *A
article from the ''Egyptian Mail''
by Samir Raafat. on the building of the Palace of the Baron Empain.
A selection of images of the palace of Baron Empain
(in Heliopolis, Egypt) {{DEFAULTSORT:Empain, Baron Empain, Baron Edouard Louis Joseph Empain, Baron Edouard Louis Joseph Empain, Baron Edouard Louis Joseph Empain, Baron Edouard Louis Joseph Belgian bankers Walloon people Honorary companions of the Order of the Bath Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic Commanders of the Legion of Honour Recipients of the Croix de guerre (Belgium) Belgian Army generals of World War I People from Hainaut (province) 19th-century Belgian engineers 20th-century Belgian engineers