Bibliotheca Alexandrina celebrates Tharwat Okasha’s centennial on April 1

CAIRO – 31 March 2021: On April 1, Bibliotheca Alexandrina is organizing an intellectual meeting entitled "Tharwat Okasha - Between Politics & Culture".

Director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina Mostafa el-Feki invited Minister of Culture Inas Abdel Dayem, Former Minister of Antiquities Zahi Hawass, International Psychiatrist and the State President's Advisor for Psychiatry and Community Consensus Ahmed Okasha to participate in this meeting set to be held at the headquarters of the BA.

The meeting revolves around the giant cultural project launched by Tharwat Okasha, the pioneer of the great cultural renaissance in contemporary Egypt, during his tenure as Minister of Culture in the two periods from 1958 to 1962 and then from 1966 to 1970, the years in which he stood with determination and perseverance to lay the basic structure for the cultural movement in the country.

The meeting will also deal with the message of the "democracy of culture", which is the human right for culture. Okasha had launched a movement to enhance that right through establishing cultural palaces in all regions and governorates of Egypt.

On the other hand, the meeting sheds light on the historical role that Okasha played in saving Nubia from being drowned as a result of the construction of the High Dam.

The meeting will also highlight the generous contributions of Okasha in various aspects of Arab thought, culture and arts, writing, presentation and translation.

Also, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina is organizing in the same evening and on the same occasion, a concert performed by the library’s Symphony Orchestra at the library’s headquarters.