Opening Of The Cultural Heritage And Development Conference
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Alexandria, 20 January 2006—The conference was inaugurated by Dr. Ismail Serageldin, introducing the distinguished speakers Zahi Hawass, Secretary General for the Supreme Council of Antiquities and Michael Cernea, Member of the Board Of Trustees of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina.
The proceedings were started off by a ten minute presentation revolving around the history of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, past and present.
Zahi Hawass" speech raised the issue of the importance of the preservation of the Egyptian and world monuments and the efforts exerted by the Egyptian government to facilitate the preservation of its monumental heritage, not just the ancient Egyptian but the Islamic and Coptic monuments at Giza.
He also commented that several new discoveries have been made, and spoke of a search for a lost pyramid at Sakara and a shaft, which has not yet been opened at the Valley of the Kings.
Michael Cernea, initiated his speech by thanking all responsible for making the conference a reality. He briefly introduced the idea of the conference and the importance of culture and heritage, and how development policies should integrate policies that are dedicated to the preservation of culture and heritage. He also stressed the need for culture and heritage to become a sector and industry of both tangibles and intangibles, setting the BA as an example.
Dr. Ismail Serageldin closed the opening session by a presentation reflecting on the culture and heritage of the world, portraying how many have developed their cultures and how chaos is created when people fear to develop their bonds to their culture (religious or national) to cope with changes.
The opening session was followed by the opening of an exhibition.
With more to come related to this event.