Mrs. Mubarak inaugurates Sadat museum

Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak the chairperson of the board of trustees of Bibliotheca Alexandria, opened on Tuesday 18/02/2009 the museum of late president Anwar Sadat.

The museum, which was established by Bibliotheca Alexandria, was sponsored by Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak and backed by Jehan Sadat, the widow of the late Egyptian leader.

Meantime, Mrs. Mubarak launched a website for the late president covering his biography and displaying 200 rare documentaries.

The museum, which is part of a plan to document Egypt's modern and contemporary history, covers an area of some 200 square meters. Dr. Ismail Serageldin, Director of the Library of Alexandria, said that the project was undertaken under the auspices of Mrs. Mubarak. He said Mrs. Sadat gave full support to the project since its inception and donated to the Library a rare collection of Sadat's personal belongings, in spite of their high personal value.

The project collected thousands of rare photographs, documents, documentary films as well as other rare unpublished material related to President Sadat.

Visitors to the museum will get a glimpse of the life of Sadat in a culturama show consisting of nine interactive screens each displaying a specific period of the life of Sadat.

The project team documents 1,116 written speeches of President Sadat, as well as 35 audio-video ones, including the very famous speech delivered in the Knesset in 1977.

More than 14,000 rare photographs of Sadat are posted for the first time on the Internet, covering a great number of official events, visits and meetings between 1952 and 1981.

Moreover, the digital archive also comprises more than 200 documentary films, as well as more than 940 rare Egyptian and American documents.