Palais D’Antoniadis
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The Palais d'Antoniadis is a palace in
Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...
,
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 ...
, named after Sir John Antoniadis (1818–1895), who was an Alexandrian Greek. He was born in
Lemnos Lemnos ( ) or Limnos ( ) is a Greek island in the northern Aegean Sea. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within the Lemnos (regional unit), Lemnos regional unit, which is part of the North Aegean modern regions of Greece ...
and received
French citizenship French nationality law is historically based on the principles of ''jus soli'' (Latin for "right of soil") and ''jus sanguinis'', (Latin for "right of blood") according to Ernest Renan's definition, in opposition to the German definition of nat ...
when he began to conduct business in
Marseilles Marseille (; ; see below) is a city in southern France, the prefecture of the department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the Provence region, it is located on the coast of the Mediterranean S ...
. He was also president of the Greek Community in Alexandria and consul general of
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 ...
. He was knighted by
Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...
.


Location

Situated near the Mahmoudia Canal at the southern entrance of Alexandria, the palace is surrounded by some of greenery, divided into several sections. They include the Antoniadis Garden, the Flower Garden, the Zoological and Botanical Gardens, and the Nouzaba Garden. The Nouzaba (Nuzha) Municipal Garden was a residential suburb once inhabited by
Callimachus Callimachus (; ; ) was an ancient Greek poet, scholar, and librarian who was active in Alexandria during the 3rd century BC. A representative of Ancient Greek literature of the Hellenistic period, he wrote over 800 literary works, most of which ...
(310–240 BC), a prominent scholar at the ancient
Library of Alexandria The Great Library of Alexandria in Alexandria, Egypt, was one of the largest and most significant libraries of the ancient world. The library was part of a larger research institution called the Mouseion, which was dedicated to the Muses, ...
. In 168 BCE, the Roman envoy Gaius Pompillius Laenas met
Antiochus IV Epiphanes Antiochus IV Epiphanes ( 215 BC–November/December 164 BC) was king of the Seleucid Empire from 175 BC until his death in 164 BC. Notable events during Antiochus' reign include his near-conquest of Ptolemaic Egypt, his persecution of the Jews of ...
, king of the
Seleucid empire The Seleucid Empire ( ) was a Greek state in West Asia during the Hellenistic period. It was founded in 312 BC by the Macedonian general Seleucus I Nicator, following the division of the Macedonian Empire founded by Alexander the Great ...
, at the site of the modern palace, which was at the time known as Eleusis. In the so-called 'Day of Eleusis', Laenas delivered an ultimatum to Antiochus: withdraw your armies from Egypt and Cyprus or face war with Rome. When the king replied that he would consider what Laenas' had said, the Roman refused to accept such an answer. Using his cane, he drew a circle around Antiochus in the sand and told him that he must give Rome an answer before he stepped out of the circle: Peace or war? Antiochus acquiesced to Rome's demands and withdrew. In 640 CE, the cavalry of the Arab conqueror
Amr ibn al-As Amr ibn al-As ibn Wa'il al-Sahmi (664) was an Arab commander and companion of Muhammad who led the Muslim conquest of Egypt and served as its governor in 640–646 and 658–664. The son of a wealthy Qurayshite, Amr embraced Islam in and was ...
pitched camp at the site before entering the city. The area was purchased by Sir John Antoniadis from Muhammad Ali's family.


Description

The Antoniadis Palace and its park are constructed as a miniature version of the Palace of Versaille. The villa and its garden date back to the 19th century, and are mainly used to house a collection of statues sculpted in the Greek style and owned by Sir John Antoniadis. It consists of a basement level of 434 square meters, a ground floor of 1,085 square meters, a second floor of 860 meters and a roof area of 480 square meters, for a total area of . The ground and second floors include 15 rooms each. There are several archaeological remains, including a tomb and a cistern.


Tomb

The tomb on the grounds, because of its setting and because of the Agathodaimon (god snake) that decorated its kline chamber, is popularly known as the "Tomb of Adam and Eve". Its entrance is down a deep staircase of forty-four steps that ends in a landing opening onto the court at the south end. It is believed to date from the first century BC. The principal rooms consist of an open-air court, a vestibule and an alcove with a funerary bed, on a single axis. Here, the kline is reduced from a functional couch to a facade treated in low relief. During Sir John Antoniadis lifetime, it was a gathering place for the social elite, and was the scene of much gaiety and many parties.


Garden

The Antoniadis Garden includes a number of statues,
Vasco de Gama Vasco da Gama ( , ; – 24 December 1524), was a Portuguese explorer and nobleman who was the first European to reach India by sea. Da Gama's first voyage (1497–1499) was the first to link Europe and Asia using an ocean route that roun ...
,
Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus (; between 25 August and 31 October 1451 – 20 May 1506) was an Italians, Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Genoa who completed Voyages of Christopher Columbus, four Spanish-based voyages across the At ...
.


Later history

In 1918 Antonis J. Antoniadis, the son of Sir John Antoniadis, donated the family mansion, grounds and gardens to the Alexandria Town Council. Afterwards, it was used as a guest house to host visiting dignitaries to Egypt, including the King of Belgium, Greece, Italy, the Shah of Iran and
Mohammed Reza Pahlavi Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the monotheistic teachings of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, ...
, who was married to the Egyptian Princess Fawzia, the sister of
King Farouk Farouk I (; ''Fārūq al-Awwal''; 11 February 1920 – 18 March 1965) was the tenth ruler of Egypt from the Muhammad Ali dynasty and the penultimate King of Egypt and the Sudan, succeeding his father, Fuad I, in 1936 and reigning until his ...
. The Villa also hosted the signing ceremony of the 1936 agreement between Egypt and Britain, which gave Egypt some limited independence, and it held the first meeting of the
Egyptian Olympic Committee The Egyptian Olympic Committee (, abbreviated as EOC) is a non-profit organization serving as the National Olympic Committee of Egypt and a part of the International Olympic Committee. History The Egyptian Olympic Committee was founded during th ...
. After the 1952 revolution, part of the original garden of the villa itself was used to enlarge the Nouzaha and zoological gardens. There was a general decline in the condition of the villa after about 1970, but the gardens remain in fairly good condition.


References

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Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding i ...
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Ab urbe condita ''Ab urbe condita'' (; 'from the founding of Rome, founding of the City'), or (; 'in the year since the city's founding'), abbreviated as AUC or AVC, expresses a date in years since 753 BC, 753 BC, the traditional founding of Rome. It is ...
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Palais d'Antoniadis Palaces in Alexandria