Barcelona's Royal Academy Discusses Egyptian Civilization

The Royal Arts Academy in Barcelona hosted a seminar on Egyptian civilization on the occasion of honoring Egyptian artist Mohamed Ali.  He won the Peace Prize from the European Commission for Peace and Social Values ​​for his film "Al Barr El Tani" (the next shore).

Among the attendees of the event was Dr. Hussein Bassir, director of the Archaeology Museum at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, who spoke on the ancient queens.

Referring to his book, Queens of the Pharaohs, he pointed out to the significant roles played by women in ancient Egypt, while women were marginalized in Europe.

"The Egyptian women were physicians, judges, priests, artists, engineers and even rulers," he said. The archaeologist noted that  more then 30 queens ruled in ancient Egypt, beside the famous ones such as Nefertari.

Bassir shed light upon their contribution to establishing science based nation, where Egypt, during their rule, did prosper more than other nations.

On his part, Dr. Mohamed Afifi, professor and head of the History department at the Faculty of Arts, Cairo University, talked about his book "Shubra Alexandria Sagheira Belkahera",; he highlighted the importance of Shubra as a melting pot for members of communities belonging to the Mediterranean Sea. Shubra was home to immigrants from Syria, Lebanon, Greece and Italy, beside Egyptians coming from all over Egypt.

He added that this beautiful peaceful coexistence between these communities and the people of Shubra that resonate with Alexandria city; in the Shubra neighborhood, dozens of celebrities and stars were born and lived side by side with international immigrant celebrities too. This made Shubra a cosmopolitan center, just like Alexandria. Among the dozens of celebrities born in Shubra, is late star Dalida, daughter of Italian parents.

Dalida, who won the Miss Egypt title in 1954, has since started singing and acting; she traveled to France and got an international fame. She returned to work with Egyptian director Youssef Chahine and participated in various roles in different Egyptian series.

Yassmine Hani