Draft:Pavlos Draneht Pacha

Pavlos Draneht Pacha (Greek: Παύλος Δρανέτ Πασάς) born Pavlos Pavlides (Greek: Παύλος Παυλίδης), also known as Paolino or Paulino Draneht (1815 or 1817, Nicosia - 5 February 1894, Alexandria) was a Cypriot trader who settled in Egypt in 1825 or 1826, he was a close associate of Muhammad Ali Pasha and the first director of the Khedival Opera House.

Early life in Cyprus
Pavlides was born in Nicosia Cyprus in 1815 or 1817 to Greek Cypriot parents. They emigrated to Egypt between 1825 and 1826 to seek a better life than in the constrains of Ottoman Cyprus.

Life in Egypt
Mohammed Ali had a personal interest in him and sent him to France to study dentistry, physics, mathematics and chemistry. He became a student and a friend of professor Louis Jacques Thenard and afterwards took on his last name in reverse as Draneht. After returning to Egypt he became a royal doctor and followed Regent Sa’id Pasha in his Sudan Expedition. He became a landowner of vast sums of land, especially in Kafr Dawwar as well as Abu Homos.

In Egypt, Pavlos became the personal doctor of Muhammad Ali.

Εφάρμοσε στα κτήματα του το στραγγιστικό σύστημα “Μασράφ” το οποίο μεταχειρίζεται ακόμη η χώρα και ευεργέτησε με διάφορους τρόπους πολλούς Έλληνες και Κυπρίους της εποχής του.

In 1861 he served as the General Director of Railways and Transportation.

He participated in the negotiations regarding the opening of the Suez Canal.

He directed theaters between 1869 and 1878. He became superinentent of the Khedival Opera House in Cairo and commissioned Aida by Giuseppe Verdi which opened in the Cairo Opera in 1871.

Personal life
In 28 June 1873 or in 1875, when Pavlos was 55, he married Adelaide Cassati, a 19 year old Italian opera singer, in Oggebbio. They had one daughter in 1877, Despoina, who later married the Greek businesman Emannouel Zervoudakis (Greek: Εμμανουήλ Ζερβουδάκης) and inherited the massive real estate of her father.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/4282947

In 1877 he was given the title of Pasha.

On 31 December 1889 Ismail Pasha and his three wives sold Gezirah Palace together with its annexes and park to Draneht Pasha and Commander Oblieght.

A street is named after him Paulino in Moharam Bek.

https://sharinghistory.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;AWE;it;79;en

https://sharinghistory.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;AWE;it;78;en

https://sharinghistory.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;AWE;it;75;en