A luxury real estate company has announced the sale of the Marble Palace, currently the most expensive home in Dubai and the region, which has been listed for $204 million.
The giant Versailles-inspired home is located in the luxurious Emirates Hills neighborhood and features a 24-carat gold Jacuzzi. The home is so large that it has its own dedicated substation.
The 60,000-square-foot palace also has a huge coral reef aquarium filled with sculptures and one-of-a-kind treasures, including a gemstone and a crystal dining table.
Like Versailles, it boasts marble columns, 160 in all, and two roof domes that reach a height of 14 meters from the ground floor. Other lavish touches include a 16-car garage, koi pond, an office and a secretary's office, gym and cellar, and a garden with its own lake and pavilion.
Sotheby's International Realty describes the house as a "one-of-a-kind trophy home" and "a love letter to Belle Époque architecture that exudes grandeur with its display of rich finishes, geometric decorations and gilded statuary."
CEO George Azar said it took 70 craftsmen nine months and 700,000 golf leaves to create the property's décor, while the palace, based on European royal palaces and residences, took 12 years to design.
"This meticulous attention to detail is evident throughout the property and is a testament to the unwavering commitment of everyone involved in making this project a huge success."
The property is inspired by Versailles and resembles the great Palace of Versailles, the brainchild of 17th century French King Louis XIV, known as Le Roi Soleil, or the Sun King, built as the seat and symbol of his wealth and power.
This exquisite palace became a symbol of the refined lifestyle of the French royal family.
The excessive consumption of King Louis XVI, grandson of Louis XIV, and his wife, Queen Marie-Antoinette, angered the impoverished people by famously declaring to her starving people begging for bread: "Let them eat cake", Queen Marie-Antoinette had declared to her starving people.
The royal couple left the empty palace mostly empty to facilitate their courtly activities in Paris, another sign of their extravagance, and thus its role as a royal residence disappeared with their deaths.
Nevertheless, the palace remains today a museum of French history, its royal architecture and decoration the ultimate symbol of 17th century European design mastery, still imitated around the world today, and associated with the glorious period of the French monarchy during the reign of the Sun King.
Back to Dubai
The UAE real estate market has regularly set new records over the past few months, with the launch of Dubai developer BinGhatti's off-plan luxury penthouse listed for sale for $204.22 million, breaking the previous week's record of $114.3 million for a penthouse.
According to CBRE, residential property sales prices in the emirate continue to rise, although rent prices have begun to fall slightly in some areas after the pandemic recovery has plummeted, according to CBRE's report.
