Antiquities Ministry: Exhibition of Photos of 150 Years of Belgian Royal Visits Opens at the Egyptian Museum

By Akram Medhat

Minister of Antiquities Dr. Khaled El-Enany and the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Belgium in Cairo, Sibille de Cartier, will open today, Tuesday, a photography exhibition at the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir titled "150 Years of Belgian Royal Visits to Egypt," organized by the Belgian Embassy in Cairo in cooperation with the Ministry of Antiquities.

For her part, Elham Salah, head of the Museums Sector at the Ministry of Antiquities, said the exhibition features about 60 photographs and a number of manuscripts displayed for the first time in Egypt, telling the history of Belgian royal visits to Egypt over more than 150 years, through which visitors to the exhibition can tour and form an illustrative picture of the depth of Belgian-Egyptian relations at the time.

She stressed that the ministry is keen to hold such exhibitions and to cooperate with all embassies and international bodies to shed light on the history of Egypt's relations with various countries, whether foreign or Arab, which opens the door to mutual cooperation between Egypt and these countries in archaeological and museum work.

In a related context, Sabah Abdel Razek, general director of the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir, explained that the photos in the exhibition range from personal visits to official ones, adding that the exhibition is scheduled to run for 30 days throughout next November in Hall No. 42 of the Egyptian Museum.

She reviewed the royal family's visits to Egypt, which began in 1855. King Albert I and Queen Elisabeth visited Egypt several times between 1911 and 1930, during which they made a point of visiting a number of Egyptian museums and archaeological sites. Between 1977 and 2012, Prince Albert and Prince Philippe, the current King of Belgium, visited Egypt at the head of trade missions.

Belgium is one of Egypt's important tourism markets, and such events and visits help encourage Belgian tourists to travel to Egyptian tourist cities. According to tourism statistics obtained exclusively by Travel Yalla News, Belgian tourist arrivals in Egypt from January to the end of September 2017 reached about 67,000 tourists, up 94% compared with the same period in 2016, spending 697,000 tourist nights, a jump of 250% over last year's nights.