Baron Empain Palace

The Baron Empain Palace in Heliopolis is one of Egypt's most surreal architectural creations — a Hindu temple dropped into a Cairo suburb, built in 1907 by Belgian industrialist Édouard Empain as his private residence. Designed by Alexandre Marcel and inspired by Cambodian and Hindu temples, it is covered in intricate divine sculptures that look entirely out of place against the Egyptian sky. Local legends speak of a rotating basement room. Now restored and open as a museum, it ranks among Cairo's most captivating curiosities.