101 Rue Fouad

Completed in 1931 in the Neo-Renaissance style, Palais Assaad Bassili was designed by the Alexandrian architect of French nationality Victor Erlanger on Rue Fouad in Alexandria. Originally conceived as a private residence, the villa later became the seat of the American Consulate before being transferred to the Ministry of Culture in 1997 and transformed into the Alexandria National Museum, inaugurated in 2003.

Through archival materials from the Centre d’Études Alexandrines (CEAlex) archives and two portraits of Assaad Bassili, this exhibition revisited the history and memory of the villa as both a domestic and institutional space. The presentation brought together the portrait by George Hanna Sabbagh (1954), later transferred to the Museum of Fine Arts in Alexandria following the exhibition, and the portrait by Arturo Zanieri (1934), from the collection of the Alexandria National Museum.

Curated and designed by Mahmoud Saïd, the exhibition was presented as part of the 14th edition of Journées du Patrimoine Alexandrines (2023).