Heliopolis is one of the upper-class districts of Cairo, in the northeast of Cairo where Cairo Airport is located.  It is also the entrance to Cairo from Ismailia and Suez.  The Belgian "Baron Empain" established the area and built his famous palace there.  Heliopolis has many large villas and buildings in the European style, and was officially established in 1906.  It used to contain a very advanced transportation system using trams built by the French.  This system was nationalized after the Suez Canal War in 1956.