"One God, Three Religions" inaugurated at the Egyptian Museum

Nevine El-Aref , Saturday 16 May 2015

A temporary exhibition depicting religious tolerance in Egypt since the early ages has been inaugurated at the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square

Painted relief depicting Jesus
Painted relief depicting Jesus

Entitled "One God, Three Religions," a temporary exhibition opens its doors to visitors at the Egyptian Museum for three months.

Some 48 artefacts, carefully selected from five museums in Egypt (the Graeco-Roman Museum, the Museum of Islamic Arts, the Alexandria National Museum, the Coptic Museum and the Egyptian Museum), are on display.

The artefacts highlight the principle of religious tolerance that characterised life in Egypt since the early ages, showing how Egyptians of different eras believed in living together in peace.

Islamic wooden treasury box
Islamic wooden treasury box inlaid with gold

Director General of the Egyptian Museum Mahmoud Alhalwagy told Ahram Online that among the most important artefacts on display are reliefs depicting Ibrahim, the father of all prophets, and those showing religious tolerance in Islam.

A document of the Prophet Mohamed's deed explaining how to deal with people from other religious faiths through applying the principal of religious tolerance is also exhibited.

Metal pots and pans decorated with Fatimid era religious celebrations and others depicting Jesus are also found. Videos, documentaries and lectures on religious tolerance are to be provided for exhibition visitors.

the lid of a pot
the lid of a pot

Director of the Berlin Museum Friedrikie Seyfried, who attended the opening, is enthusiastic and told Ahram Online that she is happy that such an exhibition was inaugurated in Egypt.

A month ago similar exhibition was opened in Berlin, which highlights cooperation between the Egyptian Museum and the Berlin Museum.

"The exhibition is sending a very important message to the whole world that Egypt is — and continues to be — the Cradle of Civilisation, before and after Islam," Seyfried told Ahram Online.

Seyfried said that the exhibition expresses well peaceful coexistence among the three religions, which started in the Roman period and continued through the Middle Ages.

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