The story
A palace on a hill above the sea, with “Enter it in peace and security” over its door.
- 1The hill above the sea
- 2The Quranic verses on the façades
- 3“Enter it in peace and security” over the entrance
According to the Presidency, the palace was built in 1887 at Zizinia in Alexandria’s Raml, on a high hill overlooking the Mediterranean. It was built by the Greek Count Stefan Zizinia, a cotton merchant and Belgium’s consul in Egypt, and later became a hotel, the Gloria Hotel.
Read more
In 1927 Prince Mohamed Ali, son of Khedive Tewfik, bought the palace and renewed it as a royal palace, naming it “El Safa” after Mount Safa, one of the rites of the Hajj. The prince cared for Islamic art, and had verses of the Quran written on the outside of the palace, among them, over the entrance: “Enter it in peace and security.”
El Safa is today one of the presidential palaces in Alexandria, kept for the Presidency’s guests, senior ministers and statesmen. It is a working palace, not open to the public, and can be seen only from the street.
