Royal Greenhouse (al-Sawba al-Malakiyya), Montaza Palace Gardens

The Montaza estate grew around the Salamlek palace, commissioned by Khedive Abbas Hilmi II in 1892 and attributed by Youm7 to the architect Dimitri Fabricius Pasha, and then the Haramlek, which King Fuad I had built in 1926 to plans by the Italian Ernesto Verrucci. In 1934 the same king had the Royal Greenhouse built. The chairman of the company that runs the park and an adviser to the Ministry of Agriculture, quoted by Youm7 in 2018, say he wanted to add to his family's natural amenities and to gather shade and tropical plants brought from all over the world; he liked to rest there in summer. Shorouk presents it, with the same date, as one of the oldest greenhouses in Egypt.

Under Farouk, in 1945, the greenhouse was altered, according to the press: the agricultural adviser speaks of concrete "kamarat" replacing the wooden gable, to make it stronger and protect it from changes in the weather, and says it stayed that way until about twenty years before the interview, when the operating company redeveloped the whole site. In the year before 2018 the greenhouse was enlarged and summer and winter pergolas were built outside for official meetings. In December 2018, Prince Sultan bin Salman of the Saudi tourism authority toured it with Egypt's tourism minister.

Youm7 and Shorouk, in 2018, describe the 1934 greenhouse as a wooden gable covered with glass; in 1945 it was reportedly replaced by concrete "kamarat", a word Shorouk renders as structures and a September 2026 post understands as concrete beams substituted for the wooden frame. That post speaks of a building of nearly 3,000 m², designed to give the plants the temperature and humidity they need.

Visitors' photographs from February 2026 show a planted interior beneath a roof of glass panes on a light-coloured frame, with brick arches at the entrance to the rooms. In OpenStreetMap the building is drawn over about 1,345 m², a few metres from a point named "Green House": that is less than the press's 3,000 m².

Youm7 lists, after the Ministry of Agriculture adviser, shade and tropical plants: kentia palms, giant pothos, zamias, caryota (the "fishtail palm"), anthuriums, elephant ears and aralias, with other names transcribed from Arabic (hookeri, victoria, rubelia). Shorouk repeats almost all of them. Both 2018 articles say the plants have kept their lustre since the beginning.

A September 2026 post adds ferns and mentions a stone fountain with an artificial waterfall. The February 2026 photographs show philodendrons, ferns, brightly coloured foliage plants and palms in stone-edged beds along red-earth paths.

The greenhouse stands at the far end of the Montaza park, east of Alexandria, in an estate of 370 acres according to a tourism site, where visitors walk for hours to see the palaces, gardens and King Farouk's royal train. In 2018 a visit was still exceptional, limited to guests and authorised visits; in 2026, posts from May and June give a separate ticket for the Royal Greenhouse on top of the park entrance, and a cruise excursion lists it with the royal train.

Allow at least half an hour for the greenhouse, then time for the gardens and the seafront. As the access information comes from social media and tour operators, it is worth checking before travelling.