Giacomo Groppi (1863-1958), left, a poor pastry chef who left Lugano for Alexandria, and his son Achille (1890-1949).
"Maison Groppi" in Cairo in 1925, the year of its opening. Hardly anything has changed.
Panettone and other western delights in Maison Groppi in the 1960s.
The Art Deco mosaics at the entrance, shown in a recent photograph.
A 1cm by 1cm glass mosaic from 100BC-AD100 with a hieroglyph saying something like: "Upper and Lower Egypt want to be united for ever".
Two 3cm high glass mosaics featuring masks of Dionysus (left) and a slave.
A 2cm by 2cm glass mosaic of an ibis, the symbol of wisdom, popular among mosaicists.
A 15cm by 30cm glass mosaic of a fish.
A 4cm by 4cm glass sculpture of Amenhotep IV, a pharaoh of the 18th dynasty of Egypt, who died in 1336BC.
A 16cm high bronze sculpture of an ibis.
The Swiss pastry chef with an eye for Egyptian antiquities.
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For the first time the Egyptian collection of Achille Groppi (1890-1949) is on display, at the Antikenmuseum Basel. Groppi, originally from Ticino, made his fortune selling cakes and chocolate to the high society of Cairo, including royalty. (Pictures: Antikenmuseum Basel)
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From cakes to mosaics
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For the first time, Groppi’s unique collection – which includes a golden goblet used by King Farouk – is on display at the Antikenmuseum Basel, the city’s leading museum for classical and Egyptian antiquities. Many of the 160 objects in the “Köstlichkeiten aus Cairo” (Delicacies from Cairo) exhibition have never before been shown in public.…
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.