Opinion

Luxor in Hungary

I was invited to Hungary to deliver a lecture about recent discoveries of antiquities in Egypt. The lecture was entitled “Pyramids, Mummies and Cleopatra: Recent discoveries.”
 
Before the lecture, I sat on the balcony of my hotel room, watching the sunset. I saw that everything out there was beautiful and harmonious. There was no bustle and no noise. I saw the charm of the Danube, the river that divides the Hungarian capital into two parts: Buda and Pest.
 
I watched the sun rays as they draped on the water and covered the city with a golden gown. This is why Hungary is a tourist destination visited by more than 15 million tourists every year, more than the native population of 11 million.
 
As usual, Egypt and the pharaohs are well-known everywhere in Hungary. The Budapest Fine Arts Museum displays an impressive array of Pharaonic monuments, offering Hungarians an opportunity to see the greatness of Egypt’s ancient history. Also the university has a department for the study of Egyptian antiquities, one of the most important in eastern and central Europe.
 
Egyptians are capable of conveying a message of love and safety to the world, inviting people to come and visit Egypt, a country endowed with the finest heritage, which belongs to humanity as a whole and not to Egypt alone. This attitude was evident during the event, which was organized by Magda Abdel Ghani, a tourism expert, in coordination with Ambassador Mahmoud al-Maghraby and the Egyptian Ministry of Culture. 
 
My lecture was part of that event. I delivered it in the main hall of the university, which can take up to 500 people. Still, the administration had to open other adjacent halls to accommodate the massive amount of attendants, who could follow the lectures via video screens. 
 
Among the audience of artists and intellectuals was the assistant prime minister, to whom Maghraby gave a copy of my book, “Egypt of the Pharaohs.” 
 
In the evening, a banquet full of Egyptian food and drinks was held at a beautiful hotel, where Ambassador Maghraby invited the guests to visit Egypt. Mohamed Salah presented the famous Egyptian Tanoura Dance to the song “Luxor Baladna,” while the guests sang along.
 
The whole event was a festivity for the love of Egypt. The next day, we were presented with a delightful surprise: it was announced that President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will visit Hungary soon.
 
 
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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