CAIRO: The American University in Cairo (AUC) Press held its annual Book, Art and Music Festival Monday evening at the newly restored Muhammad Ali Palace, showing off its publications in style.
The festival, held every year to celebrate a range of new AUC Press publications, also features art exhibitions by artists whose works have appeared on AUC Press book covers. This year, a musical performance by the young opera singer Riham Abdel-Hakim brought down the house with a selection of Arabic songs, including a medley of Umm Kulthoum songs.
Guests, who came to buy books, paintings or stroll the plush grounds of the palace, got a real taste of Egypt in the late 1800s while taking juice and canapés from the circulating waiters as they listened to the powerful voice of Abdel-Hakim.
Dressed in floating summer gowns and suits, the men and women who attended the festival mingled with ambassadors, foreigners and a large cultural circle of artists, writers, critics and photographers whilst enjoying the view of the round pool and water fountains set in the middle of the palace.
“I come to the festival every year, and each year I am taken aback by the beauty of this place, says Mona Moustafa, one of the many attendees. “There is no better place to celebrate music, literature and art than at the palace.
The palace, set in a lush garden lined with a number of rare trees and shrubs, has undergone extensive restoration and currently stands as proudly and magnificently as it did nearly 200 years ago.
Once known as the Egyptian Versailles, the 18th century palace was built over a period of 13 years, from 1808 to 1821, on an area of 11,000 feddans. It originally consisted of 13 buildings used by Mohamed Ali Pasha as a guesthouse for foreign ambassadors and members of his family.
During World War I, the main palace was destroyed by Aziza, a member of the royal family, amidst rumors that the British were thinking of using it for military purposes.
Today three sections of the original palace complex are still in place: the Gabalaya, used as a women’s residence; the Fasqiya, a garden palace used for receptions and festivals and the Saqiya (watering well), which once supplied the palace with water from the Nile.
The Fasqiya, where the festival was held, was the entertainment venue of the Pasha. The four wings of the garden palace, each located in one corner, were said to represent each season. The Pasha would choose to entertain his guests in a particular wing according to the season. In winter they were hosted in the warmest wing of the palace and in the summer the entertainment took place in the breeziest wing. The large pool in the middle of the palace holds a large ceramic platform where symphonies would be played.
This year’s festival managed to revive the glory of the palace, celebrating Egyptian arts at their grassroots.
The range of recently published books on display include: “Egyptian Palaces and Villas 1808-1960, by Shirley Johnston and Sherif Sonbol; “Cleopatra: The Last Pharaoh, by Prudence J. Jones; “The Treasures of the Monastery of St. Catherine, by Corinna Rossi; “Precious Egypt, by Mathias Seidel and Regine Schulz; and the new paperback edition of “The Golden King: The World of Tutankhamun, by Dr. Zahi Hawass, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, who was recently recognized by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential personalities around the world, and recipient of the International Appreciation Award.
“I always like to come and buy one or two books on Islamic art from here, and this certainly is better than going to a bookstore, says Ali Ibrahim, another attendee
Also featured at the festival were 28 paintings from prominent and upcoming artists including: Adel El Siwi, Anna Boghiguian, Assem Sharaf, Georges El Bahgory, Hassan Ali, Helmi Eltouni, Huda Lutfi, Margo Veillon, Maher Ali, Mohamed Abla, Omar El Fayoumi, Sabah Naim, Samir Abdel Ghani and Yasser Gaessa. Paintings ranged in price from LE 700 to LE 26,000.
