CULTURE
ICESCO and Egyptian Ministry of Culture launch celebration of Cairo as Culture Capital in Islamic World
Baku, April 12, AZERTAC
The Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) and the Ministry of Culture of the Arab Republic of Egypt have officially launched the celebration of Cairo as Culture Capital in the Islamic World with a ceremony organized by the Ministry in concert with the Organization, according to the organization.
The ceremony was held on the evening of Sunday, April 10, 2022, at the Roman Amphitheater on the northern wall of Fatimid Cairo, and saw the presence of high-level officials of the Egyptian government, ambassadors of Arab and foreign countries to Egypt, members of the Egyptian House of Representatives and Senate, public figures, writers, intellectuals, artists, along with a wide public.
The year-long celebration of Cairo as Culture Capital in the Islamic World, which was scheduled for 2020, but has been postponed to 2022 due to the COVID- 19 pandemic, is held as part of ICESCO’s Programme for Culture Capitals in the Islamic World.
The celebration’s program consists of 149 different activities, ranging from training courses and workshops to competitions, exhibitions and artistic performances, in which all sectors of the Egyptian Ministry of Culture and various official cooperating parties will take part.
Before the start of the ceremony, Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, ICESCO Director-General (DG), Dr. Ines Abdel-Dayem, Egyptian Minister of Culture, and Major General Khaled Abdel Aal, Governor of Cairo, toured these exhibitions and listened to each presentation. They then answered the journalists’ questions during a press conference that saw the attendance of various Egyptian, Arab and foreign media outlets.
ICESCO DG delivered an address in which he hailed the rich history of Cairo, the city of a thousand minarets, which was marked by the succession of several civilizations, and yet successfully preserved its prominence and heritage. He also reviewed Cairo’s most prominent luminaries and emblematic heritage sites, namely Al-Azhar Mosque, the Cairo Opera House and the House of Books.
ICESCO DG then handed over the flag of Cairo, Culture Capital in the Islamic World to the Egyptian Minister of Culture. The Minister then presented ICESCO DG with the celebration’s shield and a copy of the commemorative stamp issued by the Egyptian Postal Authority on this occasion.
The ceremony featured the announcement of the launch of an exceptional session of the Turathi Photography Competition, organized by the National Organization for Urban Harmony (NOUH), in cooperation with ICESCO, for photographers in Egypt and the other ICESCO Member States to draw inspiration from the abundance of the Islamic architectural heritage. The ceremony also featured the screening of a documentary entitled “Cairo,” produced by the Cinema Palace, and the “Here is Cairo” Operetta produced by the General Authority for Cultural Palaces, and concluded with an art show by the Sufi chanting troupe “Al-Hadra.”