Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Khaled El Anany, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis, and Czech Minister of Culture Lubomir Zaoralek, inaugurated the "Kings of the Sun" exhibition at the National Museum in the Czech capital Prague, in conjunction with the 60th anniversary of the Czech archaeological mission excavations in Egypt.
Nearly 500 people attended the opening ceremony including the most popular figures in the Czech society, businessmen and senior Czech statesmen, including the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance, Minister of Health, Minister of Education, and a number of MPs in Czech Republic, in addition to the presence of Ambassador Saeed Hindam, the Egyptian ambassador to Prague, Ambassador Badr Abdel Ati, assisstant Minister of Foreign Affairs for European Affairs and the famous archaeologist Zahi Hawass.
During his speech, Babis referred to the depth of relations between Egypt and the Czech Republic in all fields, including the field of tourism and archaeological work. Then he delivered many thanks to the Egyptian government for its cooperation in holding this exhibition in the light of the current circumstances of the emerging Corona virus crisis, stressing the importance of this exhibition as it is the first exhibition of Egyptian antiquities in Prague and the largest exhibition of the ancient country.
Dr. Anani also talked about the preparations for this exhibition, which began about 5 years ago, referring to the great efforts by the Egyptian and Czech sides to establish this exhibition in the light of the current circumstances that the world is going through, explaining that this exhibition offers its visitors a small glimpse about the Egyptian civilization, which would encourage them to visit Egypt to see more and enjoy the amazing Egyptian beaches.
The minister pointed out that the pieces displayed in this exhibition, had not left Egypt before, adding that It is the first time for them in a temporary exhibition, and assured that they are scheduled to be displayed in the Grand Egyptian Museum after this exhibition ends.
The minister then talked about some important archaeological and tourism projects that Egypt is undertaking during the upcoming period, including the Grand Egyptian Museum project which is scheduled for opening in 2021, the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization project, and the majestic parade that the ministry will organize to transfer royal mummies from the Tahrir Museum to the Museum of Civilization.
The minister also referred to the return of the artifacts of the temporary exhibition of King Tutankhamun to Egypt from its third stop in the British capital, London, after the end of its tour that began in 2018, during which it visited Los Angeles in the United States of America, the French capital Paris and London.
The minister added that 10 of these artifacts will be exhibited on a temporary basis in the Hurghada Museum, which was recently opened, and 10 others in the Sharm El Sheikh Museum, which will be opened at the end of this year, in order to allow visitors to Hurghada and Sharm El Sheikh to see part of the treasures of King Tutankhamun and to encourage tourists to visit the two cities and promote the new museums.
After the opening, a tour was organized for the attendees inside the museum in the form of groups that included about 50 people per group.
It is worth mentioning that this exhibition presents 90 artifacts from the excavations of the Czech mission in the Archaeological Zone of Abu Sir. Among them is the head of a statue of King "Ra-Nefer-F", and a group of statues from the Old Kingdom, including a statue of a writer, statues of senior statesmen and officials, and a group of Canopic vessels, in addition to ten Ushabti statues of faience.
The exhibition is scheduled to operate for six months, until February 2021, and the organizers of the exhibition expect more than 300 thousand visitors during the period of its stay in Prague.
Contributed by Mohammad Elzoheiry
Follow the latest news on Google News
