Egypt 2010- International Friends BA week.

Dakhla Oasis and Hot Springs Oct 2010 

Update on Wednesday, December 8, 2010 at 10:14PM by Susie Hagon

I arrived back from Alexandria Egypt, just over one month ago, after my third visit since 2007. When in 2007, I photographed the various people working in the library the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA) , for a portraiture exhibition of cross cultural exchange, between Egypt and Australia.

Being a member of the committee, the Australian Friends of the BA, I had the opportunity to travel to Alexandria to do the project, with Lorenzo Montesini. We spent 10 days visiting the various departments of the BA, there are 1600 people working in the BA. We made a selective choice of subjects from the highest ranks, the Director of the BA Dr Ismail Serageldin, to the Professor's of Manuscripts, Antiquities, Architecture and Science to the Chief Librarian and Academics of all fields, the Law and Accounts departments, the students who study and research, to security and the various people who clean and maintain, the extraordinary building that it is!

I collaborated with the artist Darian Zam, who added design work over the portraits, with digital layering. We held three exhibitions in 2008 at the Egyptian Consulate Sydney, the Egyptian Embassy Canberra and the BA in Alexandria Egypt. The exhibition in Egypt, was launched by the Australian Ambassador, Stephanie Schwabski and the Director of the BA, Dr Ismail Serageldin. At the opening Dr Serageldin offered to publish a book of the portraits, which was a great honor.

In October this year, I travelled back to Alexandria for the International Friends meeting (IFBA) , which is held for one week every October. We had the privilege to meet the Egyptian Presidents wife Suzzane Marburak, I had the opportunity to tell her about our book, being published by the BA. The book will be launched in Sydney 2011.

Dr Ismail Serageldin and myself with a copy of the book to be launched in 2011.

During the time of the IFBA meeting, a series of events are held at the BA such as, poetry readings, lectures and a four day excursion, to visit ancient sites with the Archaeologist, Professor Dr. Ezzat Kadous. It's always an amazing experience! In the last few years the IFBA have traveled to the Siwa Oasis and Mt Sanai.

This year we traveled to the Kharga and Dakhla Oasis, due west of Luxor, in the Western Desert, a 16 hour bus trip south of Alexandria. We were taken through the desert by a car full of security guards as there are still bandits, that hold up travelers and have been known to kidnap foreigners!

In the Kharga Oasis we visited the Hibis Temple, from the 6th century BC. The temple is well preserved with painted vultures and huge relief's of Darius greeting Egyptian Gods on the outside walls. It is one of only two temples built by the Persians in Egypt.

We then visited the Christian Necropolis of al- Bagawat which contains 263 mud-brick tombs and chapels with Coptic murals, (mostly dating  from the 4th to 6th centuries AD) In the center of the Necropolis is a church dating back to the 11th century AD. It is regarded as one of the oldest churches in Egypt. The Chapel of Peace, with images of Adam and Eve and the Ark on it's dome and the Chapel of the Exodus with, frescoes of Pharaonic troops pursuing the Jews led by Moses, out of Egypt. Just fabulous!

We went onto the Archaeological Museum, that holds a wonderful collection of Egyptian artifacts, including some Mummies!!!

The following day we went to the Dakhla Oasis and visited Al Qasr, the fortified Islamic town built in the 12th century.

Stunning!!!