About Heliopolis

Heliopolis (Egyptian Arabic: مصر الجديده, Maṣr el-Gedīda, , lit. “New Egypt”) was an early 20th Century suburb outside Cairo, Egypt, which has since merged with Cairo and is administratively divided into the districts of Masr El Gedida and El Nozha in the Eastern Area.

Modern Heliopolis was established in 1905 by the Heliopolis Oasis Company. Headed by the Belgian industrialist Edouard Empain and by Boghos Nubar, son of the Egyptian Prime Minister Nubar Pasha.

The population in January 2022 of Masr El Gedida was 142,017 and in El-Nozha was 244,869 people.

 

History

Suburban avenues
 Boulevard Ibrahim
The domes of Saint Mark’s Church, one of the oldest Coptic churches 
Sultana Malak Palace , which became a school in 1960

Edouard Louis Joseph, 1st Baron Empain visited Egypt in January 1904 to rescue one of the projects of his company. The construction of a railway line linking Mansourah (on the Nile river) to Matariya.

Signifacntly, In 1906, Empain established the Cairo Electric Railways and Heliopolis Oases Company, which bought 2500 ha (6177 acres) of desert around 10km to the northeast of Cairo to build a semi-automous garden City.

The new town represented the first large-scale attempt to promote its own architecture, known now as the Heliopolis style. It is a”city of luxury and leisure”, with broad avenues and has all conveniences and infrastructure. Firstly,Water. Secondly,drains. Thirdly,electricity. Fourthly,hotel facilities. Finally,  recreational amenities including a golf course, racetrack and park. In addition, there was housing for rent. Offered in a range of innovative designs targeting specific social classes with detached and terraced villas. Apartment buildings, tenement blocks with balcony access and workers’ bungalows.

 

Religious buildings

There are a number of places of worship in the district for three Abrahamic religions and many of their sects. Reflecting the cosmopolitan intent of the early 20th Century colonial real estate project. Our Lady of Heliopolis. Co Cathedral is a Roman Catholic church on Al-Ahram Street and a famous landmark, and the burial place of Heliopolis’ founder Baron Empain. Since 1951, Heliopolis was the seat of the Latin Catholic Apostolic Vicariate of Heliopolis until its title was merged in 1987 into the Apostolic Vicariate of Alexandria of Egypt. Its Marian former Our Lady cathedral remains a Co Cathedral. Also,Other churches include the Saint Mark Coptic Orthodox Church, the Saint George Coptic Orthodox Church, the Saint-Rita Maronite Church, Theotokos Greek Orthodox Church, Sainte Therese Armenian Catholic Church.