Egypt's Culture Minister Ines Abdel Dayem announced last week the opening of a new season of the Egyptian Academy of Arts in Rome.
The ceremony included reopening of the Academy's library, which has been closed for several years. The library consists of over ten thousand books and rare volumes, which serve the Egyptian and Italian researchers and scholars visiting the Academy.
The minister expressed via the recorded video screened during the ceremony that "the Egyptian Academy of Arts in Rome is one of the most important enlightening institutions in the cultural and artistic fields funded by the Egyptian government. It is also an important channel of communication between Egypt and Italy as well as rest of Europe."
During the launch of the Academy's new season, Egyptian Egyptologist Zahi Hawass gave a speech on the newly discovered Egyptian antiquities in the Valley of the Kings and the pyramids area in Egypt.
The event also included screening of a documentary film produced by the Academy, titled ”Egypt Continues to Write the History,” showcasing Egyptian civilization through the ages, as well as the current national projects.
The celebration was attended by Hisham Badr, the ambassador of Egypt to Italy; Heba Youssef, the director of the Academy; Ambassador Enas Mekkawi, the head of the Arab League Mission in Rome; Ambassador Safia Taleb Al-Suhail, Iraqi ambassador to Italy, and numerous other ambassadors and public figures.
Earlier this year, Abdel-Dayem appointed Heba Mahmoud Youssef as the director of the Egyptian Academy of Arts in Rome.
Youssef had previously been the head of the Cultural Foreign Relations Department at the ministry since 2018. She was also the head of the Touristic Guidance Department at the Faculty of Tourism; the coordinator of the activities and events agenda for the Egypt-France Cultural Year 2019; and a member of the joint Egyptian-Italian committee for scholarships for the academic year 2019/2020.
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