During the past few days, the National Organization for Civilization Coordination sought to register Prince Youssef Kamal Palace, which is located in Luxor Governorate, among the lists of heritage buildings that should not be demolished due to the invaluable aesthetic and heritage values that the palace holds.
Prince Youssef Kamal is known to be an Egyptian geographer and traveler with a fondness for traveling to the corners of the world and touring around Egypt, its deserts, mountains and countryside. He has many books and publications, which he translated from French into Arabic and printed at his expense.
Prince Youssef Kamal was also very interested in Arab art and architecture, and he was fond of acquiring works of art symbols from foreigners, and his palace in Mataria was a forum for artists.
He is credited with having founded the College of Fine Arts and provided a lot of art and culture, especially the collection of holdings he contributed to the Islamic Museum, which are endowment monuments of chandeliers, mosque pulpits, swords, gold works, Qurans and shields, which he presented successively from the early nineteenth century until 1927 AD. Recording each piece with a detailed description of each, mentioning its origin and date of manufacture. He also co-founded the Egyptian Academy of Arts in Rome.
Prince Youssef Kamal was also one of the richest people in Egypt in his time. In 1937, his property income was estimated at one hundred thousand pounds. In 1934, his wealth was estimated at about 10 million pounds. In this year, he was the richest person in Egypt, while in 1948 he owned about 17 thousand acres, generating an estimated income of 340,000 pounds per year.
Sun, Feb. 6, 2022
