Egyptian President, Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, inaugurated on Monday a Heliopolis landmark “the Baron Empain Palace” following the completion of its first-ever restoration.

The Baron Empain Palace, better known as “Le Palais Hindou”, which literally means the Hindu Palace, is a distinctive and historic Indian-inspired mansion in Heliopolis that was owned by Belgian millionaire Baron Edouard Empain, who is also the founder of Heliopolis district.

The palace, which was built between 1907 and 1911, was designed for Baron Empain by the French architect Alexandre Marcel and decorated by Georges-Louis Claude. It was inspired by the Hindu temple of Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

The façade of the two-storey piece of art is richly decorated with sculptures of snakes, dragons and other figures. The construction is completely made of concrete which was a new building material at the time.