Port Said’s Suez Canal House is Undergoing a EGP 60 Million Restoration Project

The Suez Canal. The jewel of the sea. The highway to India. Some have even called it the milkshake of Egypt, on account of its treasured history of bringing all the boys to the (port) yard. And recently, the Suez Canal Authority - who serve as its gatekeepers - had to haul out of their administrative building in Port Said, known as the Suez Canal House, so that the historic building can undergo a massive EGP 60 Million restoration project.

The building’s Belle Epoque aesthetic is owed to the French colonialists that came to Port Said back in 1890, whose influence could still be felt when the Suez Canal House was built in 1895 during the rule of Khedive Abbas Helmy II. In addition to the French-inspired aesthetic, the Canal’s arches and domes also drew from Islamic palaces at the time, making it architecturally divine in all kinds of ways.

Photo credit: Andrew Galea Debono