Egypt State Information Service-Issue 2003

The Egyptian culture is the bright showcase of our civilization. It brings together those elements of our civilization and history that distinguish Egypt among other cultures. Hence, the cultural development policy is two-pronged. On the one hand, it aims at fostering and maximizing individual creative and cultural and management talents. On the other, it seeks to upgrade the cultural institution in terms of architectural form or its role in its milieu, be it a library, cultural centre, theatre, museum or a historical monument.

Hence, in many of its sectors and dimensions, culture has become a major industry and broad market that grows weightier day by day along with technological transformations, the communication revolution and the growing diversity of innovative services witnessed by the world.

Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA) figures out as the latest cultural edifice. Since its early beginning, BA has been sponsored and supported by Egypt's first lady Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak who called since the Aswan Declaration for international and Arab support. Since then, material and financial contributions have flowed in from individuals and institutions around the world. BA was erected virtually on the same site of the ancient library, known as “ the Royal Brochium”. The library seeks to be Egypt's window to the world, the world's window to Egypt, a library of the new digital era and a centre for dialogue and discussion. BA was officially inaugurated in an international celebration in October 2002.

This was originally a royal palace that was converted into a creativity centre during the 1960s. Recently, the centre was upgraded and modernized and now contains a theatre, a major and minor art galleries, a library, an IT club, a cinema club, and a music library. It is the cen-tre's mission to foster and promote artistic talents and explore, sponsor and guide various artistic capabilities.

Inaugurated by Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak on August 17, 2002, this is the most recent creativity centre established jointly by the Cultural Development Fund. The centre represents a bridge that links Egypt to the outside world through modern arts.

Dating back to 1920, the Uma House museum was originally the residence of the eminent national leader Sa'ad Zaghloul. The converted museum contains artifacts, antiquities, decorations, paintings, carpets and engravings that belong to the leader Sa'ad Zaghloul.

After an overall face-lifting operation, Sayyed Darweesh theatre, located in the heart of Alexandria was reopened to the public. The theatre was technologically upgraded so as to be an elevated beacon of arts and culture. The upgraded theatre house was outfitted with new presentation and electronic safety and security technologies, in addition to being furnished with decoration workshops, powder rooms and lounges. The theatre house is expected to host opera performances for 2003/04 season. A study is underway to establish a museum for the people's artist Sayyed Darweesh.

The most recent cultural centre, As-Sawi Water Wheel is distinguished by its new and unique location; beneath az-Zamalek flyover. The centre contains water wheel garden, dramatic and cinema performance rooms and plastic arts galleries, as well as seminar and training rooms.

The foundation stone of the new Egyptian Museum was laid in 2002. It has been a long-standing dream to have a grand museum that brings together the rich, creative and diversified legacy of Egyptian civilization, art and culture. The proposed museum will be located nearby the Pyramids area.

This is the first museum to be designed to modern technology. The 1650-m2-museum comprises 1800 pieces of antiquity displayed for the first time representing the history of Egypt across the Pharaonic, Greek, Roman, Islamic and Coptic epochs. The proposed building will be electronically outfitted and secured.

Foundation Stone Laid for the Egyptian Civilization Museum in Fustat, Old Cairo:

This museum is built in the context of cooperation with the UNESCO in saving Nubian monuments. The museum exhibits the achievements of the Egyptians in all walks of life.

The first to be set up within Bibliotheca Alexandrina, this museum covers 1,700 m2. It comprises 1,079 pieces of antiquity chronologically exhibited. It also contains a set of scientific documentation for the museum's acquisitions dating back to the old library. It also contains rare papyri and marble statues of Roman orators and philosophers in addition to paintings of high artistic value.

EGBO is an outstanding cultural edifice in Egypt. As an integrated establishment for publishing, printing, translation and authorship, EGBO helps spread out enlightenment and introduces to the public the essence of human thought and fruits of technological and artistic advances.

There were issued seven periodicals in 18 numbers, including three monthly and four quarterly, (Creative Art, Psychology, Theatre, Novel, Science and Life, Folk Arts and Seasons).

In confirmation of the Egyptian child's right to reading, endorsed by Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak in the form of the Reading-for-All project, the first festival was held in June 1991. On that occasion, a celebration, under the slogan “A Book for Every Child”, was made at Arab al-Mohammadi Library. The project soon spread out to districts, schools and clubs. A major fruit of the festival gave birth to a highly beneficial and thriving cultural project; “The Family Library”. This year's slogan of the project was “Read for your Child”. The number of libraries under this project has mounted to 1,199 with an increase of 107 libraries in comparison to last year and total number of books published 1,495,000.

Established in 1870, the National Library (Darul- Kotob) was the first national library in the Arab world. It had functioned as a national public library until the Historical Documentation House was established in 1966, then annexed to the General Book Organization in 1971. Later, it was separated in 1993 and turned into the Public Authority of National Library and Documentation House. The new authority was commissioned to participate in national guidance and carry out the terms of reference of the Ministry of Culture in the fields of public and national libraries, national archives, manuscripts, documentation, authorship publishing, as well as indexing, bibliography and providing reading and research halls.

The National Cultural Centre was opened on the 10th of October, 1988, about 17 years after the burning down of the old Khedive Opera House. The National Cultural Centre presents its artistic activities on number of theatre houses including the 1300-seat Major Theatre, the 500-seat Small Theatre, and the 600-seat Open Theatre.

The National Film Centre plays an effective role in the field of Egyptian film-making activity. It takes care of the nation's memory in the form of high-level documentary and short narrative films, cartoons and video films.

Through the Music Documentation Department, a number of complete files were made for musical companies and ensembles together with biographies for storage at the Musical Heritage Department. About 38 dramatic performances were documented, and documents about the Egyptian Theatre from 1923 to 1952 collected.

The National Theatre Centre seeks to safeguard the valuable artistic heritage in the form of recordings, manuscripts or acquisitions representing our deep-rooted artistic history as a reference for researchers, scholars and appreciators.

The Theatre House consists of many troupes that perform on the state-owned theatres for the enjoyment of thousands of the masses of all social categories. About 819 performances were presented on the following theatres:

The Folk Arts House is in charge of presenting all kinds of cultural, artistic and recreational services to all categories at home and abroad. It seeks to maintain a balance between originality and modernity and also to maintain the genuine and spontaneous expression of popular sentiments and ethos.

The Academy of Arts contributes considerably to the cultivation of public ethos and tastes through training would-be artists in various fields of movie, drama, classical and oriental music, ballet and artistic appreciation. Through its artistic troupes, the academy participates in local and international competitions and festivals. The academy comprises seven art institutes as follows:

Plastic Arts Sector seeks to sponsor the artistic movement in Egypt, stimulates artistic awareness and aesthetic appreciation. It also offers facilities to artists to enable them to perform by providing galleries either at home or abroad in addition to sending artists abroad for study.

Domestic exhibitions were held in the following show rooms, reaching 99 exhibitions: Zamalek Arts Complex, Gezira Arts Centre, Cairo Atelier, Arts Palace and the Circular Hall of the Plastic Artists Syndicate.

One the other hand, 31 exhibitions were held abroad covering various fields of plastic arts as oil painting, pottery, Arabic calligraphy, rug-making, weaving etc.

Every year, Egypt witnesses many cultural festivals that have gained international recognition, due to the increasing number of foreign participants.

Initiated since 1988, this festival allows young artists from many parts of the world to present experimental theatrical performances based on freedom of thought, creativity and experimentation.

The festival opens up at the beginning of every November. In its 11th session this year, 44 singers presented 18 concerts on the Opera House and Arab Music Institute stages.

This festival has been held annually for 26 years. This year's session was a real success, allowing convergence of Egyptian and international film stars in a creative race where awards were granted.

This year was the festival's 13th session, where 24 troupes from about 17 countries participated. They presented their performances on 9 stages in Ismailia, which turned into a delightful international carnival.

The 14th session of the Citadel Festival for Music and Singing was opened in August, 2003. This year, 60 troupes presented performance of eastern and western arts. The festival is most favoured by young men.

Annually held, this festival is a venue for competition amongst singers from all over the world, Arab and foreign. It gives the opportunity to express contemporary issues through lyrics, music and performance.

The 14th session of this saloon was virtually a festival where 253 artists participated with 348 works of art, exhibited at the Palace of Arts. Exhibits included several plastic arts, such as painting, pottery, sculpture, engraving, light and oil painting.

The Culture Palace Authority plans, in cooperation with the Ministry of Communications, to introduce computers. During 2002, 15 IT clubs were opened and 38 new clubs are to be completed by the end of 2003. The plan as a whole will be completed in 3 years with the construction of 135 clubs.