BUDAPEST

Tereza Sv Kov Director

The Czech Centre Cairo contributed to the Czech Presidency with several events, always in close cooperation with the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Cairo. The Cairo Opera House hosted a concert of Czech and European classical music performed by Marek Švejkar and Lenka Korecká. The conductor Nayer Nagui joined the project “Visions for Europe”. “The Literature Night” in the Cairo district of Dokki was a great success. A great number of students found their way to “The Václav Havel European Dialogues” as well as the screening of the document “Citizen Havel”.

The programme presented as part of the Czech Presidency was varied in terms of genres and attracted both the diplomatic and academic community as well as the general public. For example, the programme included musical performances, film screenings, a scientific conference and public readings of literary works.

Cairo is a metropolis with a great demand for cultural events, including Czech ones. The response so far has been positive and makes me feel optimistic. I look forward to promoting Czech culture also outside the capital. In November, a very successful event was “The Literature Night” which involved a higher number of reading locations. The greatest challenge was the logistics. Finally, thanks to our great partners, we managed to place all readings at a pleasant distance which was greatly appreciated by the audience. Most visitors even attended all of the three reading venues. The Czech novel “Deathmaiden” by Lucie Faulerová received a strong response despite its difficult central theme. Another success was the Václav Havel conference “The Power of Dialogue” at Ain Shams University attracting vast numbers of students and the exhibition focused on the fascinating journey of Czech Egyptology. The exhibition is still in place behind the walls of the Czech Embassy and passers-by often stop and some of them take photos of themselves with some of the panels. I cannot imagine a better interaction with Czech culture.