Pack of Cards
Ancient Egyptian art, my sweets, has always been at the pinnacle of the international exhibition scene, but now, it seems, Egypt's significant museum holdings when it comes to more modern art, are set to make their mark as well. A beautiful portrait by Auguste Renoir called The woman with the tie is currently touring museums in Italy as part of an exhibition called "Impressionism from Manet to Gauguin," held under the auspices of the Italian president and culture minister. The painting is part of the Mahmoud Khalil collection and is ordinarily on permanent display at his beautiful museum in Cairo. The 70 other impressionist masterpieces in the exhibit -- which runs from 7 March to 6 July -- are culled from museums around the world, such as the Metropolitan in New York.
The logistical arrangements for the Khalil Renoir's tour were coordinated between Italian Ambassador to Cairo Mario Sica and Ahmed Nawar, head of the Ministry of Culture's Fine Arts Sector, who said the insurance arrangements allowing the work -- the only piece in the show from the Middle East -- to travel cost some $25 million dollars. The loan is part of a larger programme aiming to survey Egyptian museum holdings in order to select appropriate works for participation in other international museum exhibitions.
As part of its efforts to bring Cairene cultural events to a wider audience, the Cairo Opera House organised a large cultural festival featuring music, art exhibits, and lectures at Zagazig University in the Sharqiya Governorate. Attended by over 3000 local students, the event was inaugurated by Sharqiya Governor Hamed Shatla, Zagazig University President Abdel-Hamid Bahgat, and Opera House Director Samir Farag. An exhibit of 15 rare photos of historic Jerusalem -- donated by the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris -- made a large impression on the attendees, as did another featuring Egyptian landscape paintings.
Mustafa El-Feki, head of parliament's foreign relations committee, also gave a lecture surveying current political and military events, wherein he said that the world was at its most dangerous moment since WWII.
There's always hope in my heart, my dears, whenever I see large companies doing their part for the communities they work in. That's why I was especially pleased to hear from my good friend Mona Boutros, communications director for Cemex Assiut Cement Company, that her firm had decided to donate LE1 million to the Girls Education Initiative in Assiut. In fact, the announcement was one of the main highlights of the company's recent three-year anniversary dinner held at the Manasterly Palace. According to Boutros, the company had "decided to become partners with the government's ambitious and generous initiative to provide education for girls in deprived areas".
The initiative, run under the auspices of Her Excellency Mrs Suzanne Mubarak by the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood, aims to abolish the gender gap in seven governorates in Egypt, and enroll all girls in schools by the year 2005. After receiving the letter of donation, Ambassador Moushira Khattab stressed the importance of the private sector's role in such a community project and encouraged more multinational corporations to follow Cemex's lead.
A wonderful cultural exchange took place in Germany recently, my dears, when a choir from the Egyptian German School in Bab Al-Louq travelled to Stuttgart to perform with the Orchester des Eberhard-Ludwigs- Gymnasiums. The performance -- which took place at the Leiderhalle, one of Germany's most prominent concert halls -- was a fantastic mélange of East and West that received extensive press coverage both here and there. In fact, the performance was so successful that Egypt's ambassador to Germany invited the troupe to expand their itinerary to include Berlin, but they had to head back to Cairo for important exams. Amongst the performers from the Egyptian side was our very own Hala Sakr's daughter Laila, as well as Jala El-Hadidi, the youngest soloist at the Cairo Opera House. The Cairo choir was led by Harold Bast, while the German orchestra's leader was Peter Bachofer. Actually, dearies, Cairo and Stuttgart have been sister cities for the past 25 years, and this event was a celebration of that anniversary.
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Bridges between ambassadors' wives are being built here in Egypt, thanks to Hoda El-Ageizi, wife of Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher, and founder of the International Club. As part of these efforts, Annie, the wife of French Ambassador to Cairo Jean-Claude Cousseran, invited quite a few ambassadors' wives to have lunch at the ambassador's residence in Giza. They also paid a visit to the Misr Language Schools, headed by Magda Moussa, where they toured classes dedicated to children with special needs. Amongst the club's members are Ola Barakat, wife of Al-Ahram Editor-in-Chief and Chairman of the Board Ibrahim Nafie, and Michelle, wife of Foreign Trade Minister Youssef Boutros Ghali, who held a dinner party in honour of Arab foreign ministers' wives at the ravishing Manasterly Palace overlooking the Nile.
On the eve of the war last week, Al-Ahram Al-Arabi magazine organised a conference entitled "Artwork in Support of Iraqi Children". The centre-piece of the evening was the screening of the 14-minute documentary Umniyat Saghira (Little Dreams), directed by actress Raghda, in which Iraqi children are interviewed during Christmas and New Year celebrations in 2002 about the impending US-British attack. The screening and conference were attended by actor Ahmed Bedeir, Iraqi composer and oud player Nassir Shamma, Iraqi writer Buthaina Al- Nasseri, Editor-in-Chief of Al- Osbou' newspaper Mustafa Bakri, novelist Ibrahim Abdel-Meguid, film director Khairi Bishara, as well as several Al-Ahram journalists.
A brand new experience is set to take place at the Cairo Opera House's Small Hall on 29 and 30 March, when the Umm Al-Nour Choir and Orchestra will perform. Comprising 55 singers and 15 soloists, the orchestra was founded by Hanaa Tanious, assistant professor at the Cairo Conservatoire, as a showcase for soloists from various age groups. They have taken part in several Opera House concerts in the past, including From Egypt I Called My Son, which showed for three consecutive years.
I must admit that I have a soft spot for Bangladesh. Apart from the country's adoption of democracy, I feel proud, as a woman, that women headed two successive, democratically elected governments there. Currently, the Prime Minister is Begum Khaleda Zia. This week I would like to extend a warm welcome to the recently arrived Bangaladeshi Ambassador Mahmoud Hassan. Having served in Nepal, India, Afghanistan and at UNESCO, I am sure that Hassan will successfully serve the cordial relations between our two countries.
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 27 March - 2 April 2003 (Issue No. 631)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/631/pe1.htm