Alexandria governorate is famous for many rare archaeological places, to which all nationalities from all over the world come specifically to visit and see the unique treasures contained in the governorate, and among the distinctive places is the royal jewelry museum in zizinia area, which includes a large number of royal jewelry that was owned by the family of Mohamed Ali and was placed in a special museum for preservation, in the palace of Princess Fatima Haider, and was allocated as a museum and officially opened in 1986

The royal jewelry museum is a unique and distinctive example of Egyptian buildings inspired by the European style, designed by the Italian artist Antonio lachiac, similar to European palaces, therefore all tour guides are keen to put it on the list of foreign visits for all regiments, in addition to Egyptian students and all ages on daily internal trips

History of the museum

The museum was originally a palace belonging to the noble Fatima Zahra Haider, from the fifth generation of descendants of Mohamed Ali Pasha, the palace was completed in 1923 to be a summer residence for the princess and her family, and after the revolution of July 23, 1952, the palace was confiscated to become a presidential rest, until a Republican decision was issued in 1986 to allocate the palace to be a museum of the royal jewelry of the Mohamed Ali family, and the museum was officially opened on October 29, 1986

Geographical location and its contents

The museum is located in the zizinia area of Alexandria, and the palace consists of two wings; an East Wing, and a West Wing connected by a corridor with balconies on both sides.the West Wing consists of two floors, the first includes 4 halls, a lobby and a bathroom, and the second includes four halls with 4 bathrooms in the middle of a large lobby. The museum has 13 exhibition halls in which almost 1000 pieces of jewelry are exhibited.

The most important pieces of jewelry

King Farouk and Queen Farida›s wedding candy box is one of Queen Farida›s collectibles, it is a box of clothes and sweets presented at the wedding of King Farouk and Queen Farida on January 20, 1938 and his name was engraved on the edge of the box from the income, it is made of gold-plated silver covered with green enamel and completely topped with prominent longitudinal and transverse lines of silver and crossed with each other, the lid is centered on the top they are crowned with a royal crown.

Mohamed Ali necklace

It is the highest, most expensive and most important royal necklaces issued in 1915, awarded to kings, princes and people of high stature and was made by «Tawfik Bishai», one of the most important and most famous jewelers of the Alawite dynasty, and Mohamed Ali›s necklace of 18-carat gold, which consists of a pendant and a chain, which consists of a set of ornaments interchangeably the price of gold ornaments with a white enamel floor and Muhammad Ali›s inscription on green enamel.

The heart of the flower is a circular gold ornament with 10 diamond lobes and a green emerald in the middle and with a number of 16 small squares designed in the form of a small rose sweetened with a plant leaf, perhaps in the form of a lotus plant and camouflaged with white and yellow enamel. These squares are the separators that separate each Muhammad Ali ornament from the flower ornament, and they are made of gold, encrusted with diamonds, and in the middle there is a prominent circular ornament topped with the name of Mohamed Ali.

Parrot-shaped brooch

It is one of Queen Farida›s collectibles, and it was one of the distinctive pieces of jewelry that Queen Farida wore, which is a gold and platinum brooch encrusted with diamonds in the form of a parrot standing on a branch, and the parrot›s head is made of three branches, two of them are platinum and encrusted with diamonds and a gold branch in the middle and a gold head executed with high precision in the middle of a platinum beak.

The pen of King Farouk

It is one of the possessions of King Farouk, a fountain pen made of gold, the pen is uniquely and distinctively designed in the form of a tree trunk around which a naked mermaid wraps, wraps her arms to hold the top of the pen and wraps the tufts of the mermaid›s hair or tail around the pen in a charming and streamlined shape and the body of the pen is cylindrical in shape and empty from the inside, this cylinder controls the entry and exit of the pen and the tooth of the pen enters and exits through a part that moves in a circular motion at the front of the pen.