Fox Theatre fun facts: ballrooms

Did you know … ?

• The Egyptian Ballroom, Grand Salon, and Spanish Room were all originally Shriner meeting spaces. The Egyptian Ballroom was reserved for Shriner ceremonies and celebrations, and the adjoining Grand Salon served as their library.
• The 7,500-sq. ft. Egyptian Ballroom’s original floor is hard rock maple. A custom-designed carpet with Egyptian symbols of the afterlife and resurrection now protects the maple floor.
• In the 1970s, the walls of the Egyptian Ballroom were covered with several coats of paint obscuring the original stenciled designs. As years of paint were removed, vivid Egyptian symbols for life and rebirth were revealed, along with row after row of fake hieroglyphics.
• Depicted on the Egyptian Ballroom’s balcony is a scarab, or dung beetle, which was the symbol for the sun god Ra, who was thought to ward off evil. It is surrounded by the wings of Osiris, god of the underworld, afterlife and resurrection.
• Above the Egyptian Ballroom’s stage stretch the gilded and glazed wings of Osiris. A plaster intaglio panel of Ramses II subduing an enemy is the focal point of the stage.
• The hieroglyphics on the underside of the balcony read, “Welcome you who is bringer of joy.”  The other hieroglyphics in the room are not arranged to make real phrases.