The palace occupies the Nile Grand Hall at the former Gezira Fair Grounds. The palace, which was part of the Royal Agricultural Society, was designed by architect Mostafa Pasha Fahmy to act as a venue for agro-industrial exhibitions. In 1980 the hall was transformed into an art gallery and was officially opened in 1984 to entertain the first edition of Cairo International Biennale. Moreover, the hall acted as the venue for four editions of the Cairo Biennale, four editions of Youth Salon, the premiere of Cairo International Biennale for Ceramics. However, the hall was closed after it sustained much damage during the powerful quake, which hit Cairo in 1992. Ambitious restoration and development plans successfully turned the building into a well-equipped Palace of Art, which was opened by President Hosni Mubarak in 1998. The four-storey palace has art galleries, cinema hall and lecture room. Two galleries on the ground floor are sunlit. The Palace of Art also has a library, which is widely regarded as one of the major artistic libraries in Egypt. Its titles and facilities attract a large number of students, scholars, art critics and journalists. Since its opening the palace has been acting as the venue for major art exhibitions and biennales such as the National Art Exhibition, the Youth Salon, Cairo International Art Biennale, Cairo International Ceramics Biennale, the Egyptian International Print Triennale, etc.