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Al-Ahram Weekly 20 - 26 April 2000 Issue No. 478 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 20 - 26 April 2000 Issue No. 478
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Heritage Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Linked to the past, looking to the future
By Dahlia HammoudaThe follow-up committee of the Revival of the Library of Alexandria project met on Monday to discuss the stages of work accomplished, as well as methods of operation and management of the new library, due to open its doors in early 2001.
The meeting was headed by Mrs Suzanne Mubarak, who upon arriving at the library was given a tour of grounds and interior by Minister of Higher Education Mufid Shehab, Arab Contractors Head Ismail Osman and Project Head Mohsen Zahran. Mrs Mubarak viewed the work which has been done inside the library, as well as ongoing construction work outside.
During the meeting of the follow-up committee, Mrs Mubarak discussed the steps taken to complete this monumental project and plan for future of the institution. She was briefed on the latest technologies due to be utilised in the library and also discussed the library's beautification project, aimed at transforming the grounds into a green oasis of the highest standard, Shehab said.
Alexandria will once again give birth to a library of major cultural significance. The first Bibliotheca Alexandrina was built at the beginning of the third century BC, but the library was destroyed by a fire which ravaged Alexandria. In recent years, the Egyptian government, in close cooperation with UNESCO, decided to build a new library there to help reestablish this ancient city as an important focal point for culture, education and science. After a historical meeting in Aswan in February 1990, members of the International Commission, which included heads of state and world dignitaries, signed the Aswan Declaration for the Revival of the Ancient Library of Alexandria. It is the first library on such a scale to be designed and constructed with the assistance of the international community.
After the follow-up committee meeting, Shehab told reporters that 96 per cent of construction and specialised work for the library has been completed. The rest, including the placing of all furniture, acquisitions and equipment, is slated to be finished by August. The library will then operate on a trial basis until its official opening.
Mrs Mubarak cutting the ribbon for the new Mahmoud Said Museum Centre and heading the meeting of the follow-up committee of the Alexandria Library
photos: Ahmed Afifi
Foundation work for the library, which is made up of 13 floors covering an area of 69,000 square metres, began in 1995. Osman said that the inner halls of the library have been designed so that visitors standing inside the building will feel that the entire library lies directly on the water, even though it is actually located almost 30 metres away. The design concept is a simple circle inclined towards the sea; an inclined roof offers indirect sunlight and a clear view of the sea.
Mrs Mubarak discussed at length the library's method of operation after opening and its future activities in cooperation with UNESCO, the World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme, Shehab said. The library was conceived as no mere storage facility for books, but as an international centre for the spread of culture and civilisation.
Mrs Mubarak stressed the importance of setting up annual programmes, arranged by experts of all nationalities, so that the library can run cultural activities throughout the year, Shehab said. She also discussed the programme of the special inauguration ceremony for the library, planned to be held at four levels: official, public, cultural and artistic. The opening will last several days and involve a number of world leaders and royalties.
Mrs Mubarak has asked the committee to invite the Friends of the Alexandria Library societies -- numbering 17 worldwide -- to suggest ideas for the choice of international musicians and artists for the performances at the opening ceremony. The Bibliotheca Alexandrina has many friends all over the world: in Australia, Bulgaria, Egypt, France, Greece, Mexico, Norway, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. Their objective is to actively support and promote the project in their respective countries.
The committee is in continuous contact with UNESCO in order to come up with a final programme for the ceremony, Shehab said. He characterised the library as a meeting point for civilisations and cultures, which Egypt believes are complementary, not contradictory.
Also in Alexandria, Mrs Mubarak inaugurated the Mahmoud Said Museum Centre
Alexandria's cultural scene was enriched this week with the opening of the Mahmoud Said Museum Centre in Gianaclis, inaugurated by Mrs Mubarak and Culture Minister Farouk Hosni.
The museum building was formerly Said's residential villa, sold to the Ministry of Culture by his family five years after his death in 1964. At the time, the family donated some of Said's artwork to the ministry and the house opened its doors as the Mahmoud Said Museum in 1973. In 1983, the museum was closed down for badly-needed renovations. After undergoing a complete restoration, the house was reopened as a museum centre on 17 April in commemoration of the 103rd anniversary of Said's birth. The total cost of refurbishing and restoring the museum was LE8 million.
Accompanied by Hosni, Mrs Mubarak toured the centre and was given a thorough explanation of the restoration work undertaken, as well as information on the various works of art on display. The first floor of the museum is devoted to Said's paintings, including portraits of his own family members, such as the one of the late Queen Farida, his niece. The second floor houses the works of the brothers Seif and Adham Wanli, two icons of Egypt's modern art history.
On the first floor, Mrs Mubarak viewed Said's work studio, as well as the medals and awards given to him and to the Wanli brothers. A smaller adjoining building houses the works of various artists from Egypt's different governorates, especially the modern works of Hamed Oweiss and Mariam Abdel-Alim, who were both present and were congratulated on their art by Mrs Mubarak.
Hosni told reporters that the museum was a great addition to art and culture, not only in Alexandria, but in Egypt as well. Saad El-Khadem, Mahmoud Said's grandson, was invited to attend the event. El-Khadem told Al-Ahram Weekly that he hadn't seen the house since 1967, when he was 12, and expressed his satisfaction with the work done, saying it was "quite impressive."
Having spent the last 30 years in the United States and the Arab Gulf, El-Khadem returned to Cairo only one year ago. He is currently managing director of a pipe factory in the 6 October City. El-Khadem said that his grandfather had started painting as a hobby, giving a large collection of his paintings away as gifts to his family and relatives. Some were later given to the museum and a few were sold.
El-Khadem said he remembers his grandfather painting him and his sister at the house in his first-floor studio. The portrait, he said, has a background of the Corniche and Al-Montazah Palace and now hangs in his mother's house in the US.
Conjuring tricks
Nigel Ryan on the art, and contradictions, of Mahmoud Said
