Author: Athanasios Koutoupas

14th Bibliotheca Alexandrina Int’l Summer Festival

The Bibliotheca Alexandrina’s 14th annual International Summer Festival will take place between 29 July and 8 September, offering a rich programme for all musical tastes alongside film screenings, plays and theatre.

Organised by the Bibliotheca Alexandrina Arts Centre, this year’s edition will bring over 40 cultural events, ranging from music and theatre to film and traditional dance, to the Mediterranean city.

The music programme promises a vibrant line-up with concerts by an array of established singers and musicians from Egypt and the region, from opening act Marcel Khalife to Soad Massi closing the festival, from independent rock and fusion bands to jazz, folklore and orchestral music.

The festival will be topped with several film screenings and plays

Events take place across a variety of venues at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Alexandria. Events start at 8:30pm unless otherwise noted.

Friday 29 July
Marcel Khalife (Lebanon)
Great Hall

Saturday 30 July
Basata band (Egypt)
Open Air Theatre

Sunday 31 July
El Nafeekha band (Egypt)
Open Air Theatre

Monday 1 August
Kathakali dance (India)
Open Air Theatre

Tuesday 2 August
Samaei band (Egypt)
Open Air Theatre

Wednesday 3 August
Eftekasat band (Egypt)
Open Air Theatre

Thursday 4 August
Faia Younan (Syria)
Open Air Theatre

Friday 5 August
Hani Shaker (Egypt)
Open Air Theatre

Saturday 6 August
Concert conducted by Selim Sahab (Egypt)
Open Air Theatre

Aqsa Alwasat band (Egypt)
Small Theatre

Sunday 7 August
‘Music from here’ concert with bands Soot Fel Zahma and Wasla (Egypt)
concert in cooperation with Goethe Institute in Alexandria
Open Air Theatre

Monday 8 August
Music concert
Open Air Theatre

Tuesday 9 August
Folkloric bands from Nubia and Sudan
Open Air Theatre

Wednesday 10 August
Boghdadi band performs jazz music (Egypt)
Open Air Theatre

Thursday 11 August
Fouad and Mounib (Egypt)
Open Air Theatre

Friday 12 August
Black Theama band (Egypt)
Open Air Theatre, 9pm

Saturday 13 August
Ali El Haggar (Egypt)
Open Air Theatre

Birthday of a Marionette: Theatre dance (Egypt)
Director and choreographer: Mohamed Abdel Sabour
Small Theatre, 8pm

Sunday 14 August
Massar Egbari band (Egypt)
Open Air Theatre

Jazz music (Slovenia)
Small Theatre, 8pm

Monday 15 August
Ali El-Helbawy (Egypt)
Open Air Theatre

Tuesday 16 August
Omar Khairat accompanied by the Bibliotheca Alexandrina Orchestra (Egypt)
Great Hall

Wednesday 17 August
Omar Khairat accompanied by the Bibiotheca Alexandrina Orchestra (Egypt)
Great Hall

Thursday 18 August
The Jets Band (Egypt)
Open Air Theatre

Friday 19 August
Qarar Ezala band (Egypt)
Open Air Theatre

A play for children (Egypt)
Small Theatre, 7:30pm

Saturday 20 August
Bibliotheca Alexandrina Orchestra conducted by Khaled El-Showeikh (Egypt)
Open Air Theatre

A play for children (Egypt)
Small Theatre, 7:30pm

Sunday 21 August
The Wave Jazz band (Egypt)
Open Air Theatre

Monday 22 August
Sheikh Alzain (Egypt)
Open Air Theatre

Tuesday 23 August
Karakeeb band (Egypt)
Open Air Theatre

Wednesday 24 August
Ahmed Al Haggar (Egypt)
Open Air Theatre

Thursday 25 August
Two bands: Storm and Zajel (Egypt)
Open Air Theatre

Friday 26 August
Rima Khcheich (Lebanon)
Open Air Theatre

Star of Orient: a theatre play for children (Sweden)
Small theatre, 7:30pm

Saturday 27 August
Sound of Egypt orchestra conducted by Ahmed Atef (Egypt)
Open Air Theatre

Star of Orient: a theatre play for children (Sweden)
Small theatre, 7:30pm

Sunday 28 August
Music from Here concert with bands Telepoetic and Disorder (Egypt) in cooperation with Goethe Institute in Alexandria
Open Air Theatre

“Five short films in four days” – screening series of films by Egyptian filmmakers
Day 1: Screening of Aida by Maysoun El-Masry
Film duration: 20 mins
Screening will be followed by discussion with the director
Auditorium hall, 8pm

Monday 29 August
Andromida band (Egypt)
Open Air Theatre

“Five short films in four days” – screening series of films by Egyptian filmmakers
Day 2: Screening of Sunflower Lane by Mayye Zayed
Film duration: 14 mins
Screening will be followed by discussion with the director
Auditorium hall, 8pm

Tuesday 30 August
Hanan Madi performs with the Sound of Egypt orchestra conducted by Ahmed Atef (Egypt)
Open Air Theatre

“Five short films in four days” – screening series of films by Egyptian filmmakers
Day 3: Screening of Tree (10 mins) and ‘Tashkeel’ (12 mins) by Mohamed Mostafa
Screenings will be followed by discussion with the director
Auditorium hall, 8pm

Wednesday 31 August
Bands High Dam and Mina
Open Air Theatre

“Five short films in four days” – screening series of films by Egyptian filmmakers
Day 4: Screening of Har Gaf Sayfan by Sherif El Bendary
Film duration: 30 mins
Screening will be followed by discussion with the director
Auditorium hall, 8pm

Thursday 1 September
Cairo Celebration Choir conducted by Nayer Nagui (Egypt)
Open Air Theatre, 9pm

Friday 2 September
Family day across many spaces of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina with activities targeting the youngest audience members and whole families

Saturday 3 September
Tania Saleh (Lebanon)
Open Air Theatre

Sunday 4 September
Palestinian folklore band
Open Air Theatre

Until Proven the Opposite: A play (Egypt)
directed by Mohamed Osama Ata
Small Theatre, 8pm

Monday 5 September
Traditional music from India
Open Air Theatre

Until proven the opposite: A play (Egypt)
directed by Mohamed Osama Ata
Small Theatre, 8pm

Tuesday 6 September
Shawarena band (Egypt)
Open Air Theatre

Crazy Accident: A play (Egypt)
written by Lenin El-Ramli and directed by Yasmine Saeed
Small Theatre, 8pm

Wednesday 7 September
Mohamed Mohsen (Egypt)
Open Air Theatre

Thursday 8 September
Soad Massi (Algeria)
Open Air Theatre

(english.ahram.org.eg)

July 27, 2016
The Decimation of Alexandria’s Architectural Heritage

In 2012, the civil group Save Alex took a stand in the streets of Alexandria, calling to save the Cicurel Villa in the ancient city’s Rushdy district. The group’s work resulted in a law that should have protected the building. But last week, the villa built by a Jewish-Turkish merchant in the 1930s was knocked down anyway.

Since its foundation in 331 BC, each era has left its beautiful print on Alexandria’s architecture. The city’s streets are lined with Greek, Roman, English and Italian works of art. But these villas and palaces are now being demolished, taking away from Alexandria’s history, one after the other.

The 1920s Modernist Agion Villa used to draw French, Italian and other foreign tourists to marvel at and study it. Brought down three months ago, the villa is to be replaced by a touristic residential tower. A few days after the Cicurel Villa incident, the much-loved Al-Salam Theatre, was also bulldozed for a TOLIP franchise hotel.

“One of the most bizarre self-defeating trends in Alexandria is the idea that you can destroy historical buildings so you can build … hotels in their place. If this logic is followed through, where do tourists and visitors who stay in these hotels end up going for sightseeing? To go look at other hotels?,” said Amro Ali, a PhD scholar writing about Alexandria’s urban politics.

Surrounded by trash and left to rot, it is feared many other sites face demise.

“Owners care about the properties’ monetary value rather than their touristic or cultural value to Alexandria,” said Mohamed Mehaina, deputy director of AlexMed and member of the Heritage Preservation Committee at the Biblioteca Alexandrina.

Under law 144 of the year 2006, “It is prohibited to demolish or add to any building of significant architectural style related to national history or a historical figure, a building that represents a historical era, or a building that is considered a touristic attraction.”

To define this, AlexMed compiled a legal Heritage Preservation List in 2007. But owners seek to remove their properties from the list, either to dodge restrictions over them, or to sell or demolish the property, usually through filing a lawsuit. Forty-seven pieces of property have been dropped from the list through adjudications, and since 2009, 14 were knocked down, according to Mehaina.

On the Alexandria corniche lies the locked up and neglected Sabahi Palace. With the area of 3000 meters squared, the site is worth EGP 300 million. Also on the heritage list is Princess Aziza Fahmy’s 15,000 meter property, valued at EGP 435 million. Despite their ‘protected’ status, these buildings are also under threat.

The owners of Villa Ambron, the former home of British author Lawrence Durrell where he wrote the Alexandria Quartet, want to knock it down. The owner of Roman neo-classic Qerdahi Palace asked to be excluded from the heritage list.

“The problem is that the state does not provide compensation,” Mehaina believes. In other countries, businesses receive a tax relief on buying historical property as compensation for saving heritage, which is why investors run to put money in such properties, the architect said.

Alexandria’s oldest street, Fouad, said to be the first planned street in history, is under threat. Crowned by Muhammed Ali’s opera house on one side, and his cultural palace on the other, all the buildings’ details are very rare, said Hassan.

“There is a harmony between the buildings, even if not built with the same elements and techniques,” stated Ahmed Hassan, founder of Save Alex. Each time a historical building is brought down, Fouad’s skyline is damaged further. New buildings ruined the visual perspective, whether because of height or architecture style, explained Mehaina.

Blacklisted in the hearts of those who care about Alexandria’s heritage, one company, Stanly, buys buildings and demolishes them, among which was the famous Rialto Cinema.

Meanwhile, another company called Sigma buys such historical landmarks to preserve, develop and reutilize them. While a branch of Roastery restaurant was set up in Fouad with not attention to harmony with heritage, Sigma redeveloped L Passagefood hall with more consideration.

“[Sigma] is somehow treating the buildings more sensitively,” Hassan said.

Speaking of the role of civil activity, Mehaina said that “… we are struggling [against the demolition of heritage], but we are not executives,” adding that heritage committees, NGOs, and demonstrations are held to fight for the cause, as well as awareness campaigns and documentation.

Legislation, strict application of law and a heightened sense of awareness need to come together to salvage the remaining sites that have witnessed how Alexandria came to be.

(egyptianstreets.com)

July 27, 2016
First-ever legal bid for return of Elgin Marbles to Greece thrown out by European Court of Human Rights

The first-ever legal bid to force the UK to return the Elgin Marbles to Greece has been thrown out by the European Court of Human Rights.

The court ruled that because the alleged theft of the sculptures from the 2,500-year-old Parthenon temple took place more than 150 years before the UK signed up to the human rights convention, it did not have the power to consider the lawsuit.

Campaigners for the return of the sculptures pointed out that the court had not made a ruling on the “merits of the case”.

The marbles were taken from the temple by the Earl of Elgin in the 1800s and he then sold them to the British Government in 1816 after running into financial difficulties.

At the time, Greece was occupied by the Ottoman Empire. Lord Elgin obtained a “firman”, a legal document, that apparently allowed him to take some stones but some believe it did not entitle him to cut sculptures from the building.

The marbles are regarded as some of the finest sculptures ever created and the Parthenon, built by the democratic Athenians after victory over the Persian Empire, is arguably the most important monument in Europe.

The Greek Government was given extensive legal advice from lawyers Amal Clooney and Geoffrey Robertson, but appears to have decided against taking Britain to court.

Instead, the case against the UK was brought by the Athenians’ Association, a cultural group, after the British Government refused an offer last year by Unesco to mediate between Greece and Britain.

The British Government and the British Museum, where about half the surviving Parthenon sculptures are on display, insist the Earl of Elgin acquired them legally.

In its ruling, which was sent to the Athenian Association last month, the European court said: “The Court notes that the marbles were removed from Greece in the early 19th century.

“In order to bring the matter within the temporal jurisdiction of the Court, the applicant has sought to rely on the refusal of the United Kingdom to enter into mediation with Greece concerning the return of the marbles and the continuing refusal to return the marbles.

“However, it is clear from the nature of the applicant’s complaints that its underlying grievance is the allegedly unlawful removal of the marbles from Greece. The removal having occurred some 150 years before the Convention was drafted and ratified by the respondent state, the applicant’s complaints would appear to be inadmissible.”

The judges also said the Athenians’ Association did not have “any right … to have the marbles returned to Greece”.

The Athenians’ Association’s legal representative, Vassilis Sotiropoulos, said the case was a “first step”.

He claimed the judgement could actually help the Greek Government take legal action in the future.

“Globally, this first statement of the European Court, historically the first court judgement, on the subject of the Parthenon Marbles highlights the points that Greece should focus on with particular attention in her recourse against the United Kingdom,” Mr Sotiropoulos said.

“This decision leaves open the possibility of a recourse submitted by Greece being proclaimed admissible, thus also indirectly offering precious expertise on how to handle the case henceforth.”

Andrew George, of the British Association for the Reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures, said the ruling did not affect the arguments in favour of sending the sculptures back.

“We’ve learned nothing from this. There’s been no test of the merits of the case, just that this is not the arena to resolve the justice or otherwise of the case,” he said.

“The UK Parliament effectively state-sanctioned the improper acquisition of the sculptures exactly 200 years ago this year.

“But this doesn’t make it a cause of pride for the British, nor does it make the act nor their continued retention either ethical or just.”

On 10 July, a cross-party group of MPs launched a Bill to return the sculptures to Athens, where the Acropolis Museum was built specifically to house them within sight of the Parthenon.

The British Museum argues that it “tells the story of cultural achievement throughout the world, from the dawn of human history over two million years ago until the present day”.

“The Parthenon Sculptures are a vital element in this interconnected world collection. They are a part of the world’s shared heritage and transcend political boundaries,” it says.

“The Acropolis Museum allows the Parthenon sculptures that are in Athens (approximately half of what survive from antiquity) to be appreciated against the backdrop of ancient Greek and Athenian history. The Parthenon sculptures in London are an important representation of ancient Athenian civilisation in the context of world history.”

(www.independent.co.uk)

July 26, 2016
FOSTEr-ing solar technology in the Mediterranean area: an EU success story completed in Egypt through the FOSTEr in MED Project

The project for foresting solar technology in the Mediterranean region, FOSTEr in MED, was completed at a cost of €4.5m, and financed by the European Union (EU) through the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument – Cross Border Cooperation Programme (ENPI CBC MED).

In 2007, the European Council adopted ambitious targets to shift climate and energy sources by 2020. This comes as part of a strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20%─or even 30%, if conditions are favorable─, increase renewable energy production to 20%, and improve energy efficiency by 20%.

The FOSTEr in MED project aims to find solutions between theories and practices in the solar energy sector, transferring the accumulated experiences through training, and distributing specialised architectural integration instructions.

The programme worked on bridging the gap between theory and practice in the solar energy field by transferring competencies and providing training. The support includes setting guidelines to achieve the architectural integration of solar energy technologies and the implementation of pilot projects within the framework of best practices. The programme helped in preparing a common theoretical approach in the field of renewable energy, and in the establishment and development of local communities, including local authorities, universities, research centres, commerce chambers, and representatives of SMEs.

FOSTEr in MED encouraged the promotion of innovative solar photovoltaic (PV) technologies in the Mediterranean region. This project embraces a multi-layered strategic approach through the participation of local stakeholders, so as to ensure a multiplier effect (in terms of results) of the project’s activities in the Mediterranean Sea region, and then publish and transfer these results both outside the boundaries of the partnerships and after the project is completed.

The project is characterised by a strategic approach that aims to influence the different layers of civil society. It also has a committee of experts and a Technical Scientific Committee (TSC) that consist of individuals and experts from the Mediterranean countries, coming from universities, research centres, the private sector, and institutional sectors.

Salma El-Sahhar, the project manager of the FOSTEr in MED project at the Confederation of Egyptian European Business Associations (CEEBA), said that in the course of the past three years, the project has promoted the adoption of innovative solar PV technologies in the Mediterranean area and exploited the potential of solar technologies through the transfer of technical knowhow to those involved in the sector (small- and medium-sized enterprises, engineers, students). It also identified the best practices in the policy and regulatory fields, and the implemented five pilot projects aiming to equip public buildings with innovative solar PV plants. One of these buildings is that of the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce, the first.

The Alexandria Chamber of Commerce in Alexandria is one of the five public buildings and the first Mediterranean chamber to be solar-equipped, hosting the innovative solar PV plants, and testing different technological solutions and architectural integrations. The other buildings selected to be part of the project are: Balqa college in Aqaba, Jordan; the Lebanese University Campus in Hadat in Beirut, Lebanon; the Centre National de Formation de Formateurs et d’Ingénierie de Formation (CENAFFIF) in Tunis, Tunisia; and the Regional Agency for the housing construction industry (AREA) in Cagliari, Italy.

El-Sahhar added that Onera Systems has completed the installation of a solar power plant at the Chamber of Commerce in Alexandria through the FOSTEr in MED project with a total peak power capacity of 13.72 kWp, a yearly energy yield of 19,813 kWh, and an annual CO2 emission reduction of 11 tonnes.

The PV is integrated in the building, intercepting the direct heat radiation on the roof where 56 coloured modules have been installed to match the building’s architectural design.

She further added that the funding of the FOSTEr in MED project, which aims to promote solar technology in the Mediterranean region, came within the first call to establish strategic projects and promote environmental sustainability. The project aims to contribute to transferring knowledge and technology in the field of solar energy to the Mediterranean region through cross-border cooperation.

The project educated at least 3,500 students from 60 schools, and 350 citizens about solar energy technologies, prepared at least six sheets of public policy proposal, and implemented five projects with a capacity of 85 kW (about 17 kW per station).

Kamelia Youssef, the technical expert of FOSTEr in MED, said that the project aims to educate and apply. The educational side includes educating school and university students about the integration architecture of solar energy, while the application side comes through implementing a project to identify the importance of solar energy more clearly.

She stated that solar panels can be installed on buildings’ windows in order to produce electricity and protect buildings from high temperatures.

According to Youssef, three training sessions were held. The first session trained graduate students of engineering colleges and institutes from Cairo, Tanta, and Alexandria about the architectural integration of solar energy. It lasted for six days. The second session taught technicians and workers how to install, operate, and maintain solar plants throughout six days. The third session trained designers on solar energy programmes.

Youssef said that the application side of FOSTEr in MED included the launch of a solar energy plant project with a capacity of 13.7 kW, producing 20,000 kWh annually at the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce building.

The partnership project is composed of different research institutions, public administration, and representatives of private sector, including the University of Cagliari in Italy, the Association of the Mediterranean Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ASCAME) in Spain, the Promotional Services Centre for enterprises (CSPI) in Italy, the Confederation of Egyptian European Business Associations (CEEBA) in Egypt, the Industrial Research Institute (IRI) in Lebanon, the Royal Scientific Society (RSS) in Jordan, and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Tunis (CCI Tunis) in Tunisia.

(www.dailynewsegypt.com)

July 26, 2016