Since Ptolemiac times the port city of Alexandria has been a lighthouse for culture.

True that the city has waned somewhat in certain periods but a recent face-lift together with the inauguration of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina have started to revive its original role as a city of culture. More so when the National Alexandria Museum highlighting the history of the town opens at the end of this month.

The well-known timber merchant Asaad Pasha Bassily would never have dreamed that the palace, which he built in the heart of Alexandria in l925, would be turned into a museum some 75 years later.

The palace resembles a style of European stately home museum on account of its distinguished architecture. Due to his business, wood including rare types, were used extensively in the interior decoration.

Bassily said that he spent his happiest days in the palace and even built his grave on a site only 300 metres away.

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