In collaboration with AUC Press, the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization hosted a book talk and a Q&A session with Egyptologist & Author; Dr. Bob Brier, to discuss his most recent book; “The Luxor Obelisk and Its Voyage to Paris” (AUC Press, 2021).
The book talk was attended by Dr. Ahmed Ghoneim, Managing Executive Director of NMEC, along with a considerable number of scholars from across Cairo, many of whom are Egyptologists, and are completing research in various aspects of Egyptology. In his book, Dr. Brier recounts the voyage of the two-hundred-and-fifty-ton Luxor obelisk that dates back to the reign of King Ramses II, from Egypt to the French capital; Paris, in one of the greatest engineering triumphs of the early 19th century.
It is worth-mentioning that the transferred obelisk was the first ever to leave Egypt, as no obelisk this size had left the country in nearly two thousand years. Thanks to the brilliant young engineer; Apollinaire Lebas, the obelisk was raised at the famous Place de la Concorde in front of thousands cheering Parisians on October 25th, 1836, in a prestigious event held by King Louis- Philippe.
For his part, Dr. Ahmed Ghoneim, Managing Executive Director of NMEC, confirmed that the symposium comes within NMEC’s framework of diversifying its offered cultural activities. Dr. Ghoneim as well emphasized the importance of organizing such events as it encourages its audience to examine and deeply investigate the many episodes of Egypt’s rich history.
