Hosni Mubarak’s Pimped Out Palaces

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is currently trying to cling to power amid widespread protests. Mubarak has good reason to fight to stay in office. If he loses the Presidency, Mubarak will leave behind two opulent palaces complete with countless chandeliers, solid gold clocks, a collection of weapons, and a bedroom with silk-lined walls.
Mubarak’s residence in Cairo, Abdeen Palace, was built during a ten-year period from 1863-1874. According to archived copies of an official web site that was taken down by the Egyptian government up until 2008, it is “considered one of the most sumptuous palaces in the world in terms of its adornments, paintings, and  large number of clocks scattered in the parlors and wings, most of which  are decorated with pure gold.”
President Mubarak’s office at Abdeen Palace features paintings that celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal and its 1975 re-inauguration following its closure in the wake of the Six Day War.

According to the official Egyptian government web site, the Byzantine Auditorium is “harmoniously decorated with Coptic, Byzantine and Islamic adornments” and is “used as a foyer where guests would gather before going into the main ballroom.”

In the theater at Abdeen Palace there are “hundreds of gold-plated seats” where “Egyptian shows are presented to entertain the palace’s guests.”

Abdeen Palace includes museums dedicated to silverware, gifts received by President Mubarak, and weaponry including a pistol once owned by Italian fascist Benito Mussolini.

One room in the Presidential gifts museum contains a portrait of Mubarak surrounded by weapons given to the President. Saddam Hussein contributed a gold-plated AK-47 to the collection.

 Ras Al-TIn palace is Mubarak’s home in Alexandria. It was constructed from 1834-1847 on an area of 17,000 square meters.

According to the official website, President Mubarak’s bedroom at Ras Al-Tin is “a quite style bedroom distinguished with golden ornaments and silk covering the walls.”

President Mubarak’s office at Ras Al-Tin has multiple ornately decorated rooms and waiting areas.

President Mubarak signs “formal agreements” at Ras Al-Tin in a hall that was once used as the throne room of the Egyptian King.

Press conferences are held in the “flag saloon” where the walls are decorated with “music instrument shapes” and “a collection of the most prominent Italian artists work.”

While his people dealt with the rising poverty that was a major factor in the current protests, Mubarak lived a life of luxury. This popular uprising may chase him from his palaces, but thanks to a vast family fortune purportedly worth as much as $70 billion, Mubarak should still be able to score himself some impressive real estate outside of Egypt.