Kodak Agfa Presents: Cairo’s Umm Kulthum Museum in photos and video

It was like a perfect cinematic moment that Saturday afternoon. Just two days before the 50th anniversary of Umm Kulthum’s passing, you step out of her small yet rich museum in Cairo, still enveloped in the aura of her larger-than-life presence.

Outside, by the Nile, an old yet elegant man sits alone, detached from the world around him. From the small speakers of his mobile phone drifts the voice of Umm Kulthum, chanting "Lailat Hob"—her last recorded love song. He gazes into the river, lost in a trance, as though the currents carry the echoes of his own memories, entwined with the Lady’s immortal voice.

It was a perfect Egyptian scene. I wanted to capture it, to ask him what Umm Kulthum meant to him. But I did not dare, unwilling to be the one to pull him back to reality.

That scene summarizes a lot about Umm Kulthum and Egyptians if not Arabs.

Umm Kulthum's statue outside her museum in Al-Manial island 

On Monday Egypt remembered that 50 years ago it woke up to find its “Planet of East” Umm Kulthum passed away after having

Umm Kulthum died on the same day the music died in the US. She died but her legacy and art still stand as the true fourth pyramid in Egypt.

According to historians and those who witnessed the day, her funeral was a popular one to the level that people compared to the funeral of the second president of Egypt and her lifelong fan Gamal Abdel Nasser.

Yes, Umm Kulthum Ibrahim, the singer who came from rural Nile Delta’s Tamay e-Zahayra village had the biggest public funeral of a woman in Egypt in the modern age if not in the nation’s long recorded history.

I can’t speak about Umm Kulthum or Thuma or the Dame “as we nickname her in Egypt for decades” easily thus I would focus on her museum.

Umm Kulthum Museum is located inside the Nilometer-Manasterly Palace site on Manial Al-Roda Island in Cairo.

Exploring Egypt's Wadi El-Hitan and Fossils and Climate Change Museum: In video

I know. I promise you that this would be the finale of the posts series I dedicated to the visit I paid to Egypt’s Wadi El-Hitan or the Valley of the Whales in 2017.

Believe me, this obsession is worth it, the place is amazing and having this place in Egypt makes me so proud.

Now here are a couple of video clips I took at the UNESCO World Heritage Site in the heart of the Fayoum desert which is 150 km away from Cairo. Warning: Extremely shaky, fast and short video. Turn on the captions, it got English captions and I am working on the Arabic captions as well.

I apologize for the bad filming; I was still a newbie. 

If you like it, please like, share and subscribe because I still record videos of places I visit. “You probably know that already if you are a regular here.”

Featured in the video are Wadi El-Rayan’s man-made waterfalls and the man-made magic lake.

Kodak Agfa Presents : Egypt’s Fossil and Climate Change Museum in Fayoum’s Wadi El-Hitan Protectorate in 2017 (#EP3: When the desert turns into a museum)

We are back in the third post of our series about Egypt’s Wadi El-Hitan Climate Change Museum in Fayoum.

In 2017, I paid a visit to Wadi El-Hitan or the Whale valley in a quick visit to the beautiful Fayoum governorate. In the first post of this series, we shared the history of Egypt’s fossilized Jurassic Park as well as part of its indoor museum.

In the second post, we continued our visit to the very rich indoor museum in the valley.

Now we continue our trip in this post to the UNESCO World Heritage Site but this time we visit the outdoor museum.

Inside Wadi El-Hitan Protectorate in Fayoum's desert 

When you finish visiting the indoor museum, you go outside carrying your backpack or whatever but you must have a bottle of water to keep you hydrated and must wear your best hiking shoes because you will have one hell of a hike in the middle of the desert.

You will see why. 

Inside Wadi El-Hitan Protectorate in Fayoum's desert 

Head for the trail in front of you and just imagine that this was a huge ocean bed from millions of years ago.

The road to the outdoor museum and its exhibits from fossils 

The trail takes you up to a hill and seriously it is one of the best hikes I have ever taken so far.

Kodak Agfa Presents : Luxor’s Deir El-Bahry aka Hatshepsut temple in February 2012 (Part-2)

And we continue our short and quick tour in Hatshepsut Mortuary Temple in Luxor’s Deir El-Bahry in February 2012.

You can refresh your memory and see more about the history of the famous Egyptian Queen’s temple and the history of its excavation as well as the first lower floors or courts in the temple itself in the first part of this two-series post.

On the way to Hatshepsut temple in Deir El-Bahry 

An important disclaimer: I included here only the parts I have seen in this huge complex. There are even more parts that I missed. 

Now to the middle of the second terrace or the court which you reach through a ramp from the lower terrace or court.

The middle terrace of Hatshepsut mortuary temple 

The middle terrace measures 75m deep by 90 m wide according to Wikipedia and it is fronted by colonnades. There are lots of details on this terrace.

Kodak Agfa Presents : Luxor’s Deir El-Bahry aka Hatshepsut temple in February 2012 (Part-1)

This time Kodak Agfa is going to present photos taken from a decade ago and it feels so weird and yet so close!!

I know I am lazy but for my defense, 2012 was among the years full of action in Egypt to the level that amazes me till now.

Anyhow enough of excuses and nostalgia and let’s end that 2012-trip in Luxor and Aswan with the legendary Deir El-Bahry’s site of Hatshepsut Mortuary Temple.

Hatshepsut Mortuary Temple in Luxor 

It was the last major site I took photos in that short visit in Luxor after the Karnak and Luxor temples.

Kodak Agfa Presents : Hidden European Fine Arts of Egypt “Volume 1 : Paintings”

Egypt got some secret treasures to amuse and share with the world and they are not great Egyptian ancient treasures.

They are treasures from different civilizations that ended up in the valley of the Nile. Among those treasures, a huge collection of classical European arts from statues and paintings by the greatest artists the world has known in the last 200 years.

European Arts fans can enjoy themselves too in Egypt if they know where to go.

I know some will find it odd, but we got paintings for painters like Monet, Picasso, Goya and Henri Matisse that are worth millions of dollars

The girl , the painting and Sculpture

Last November I went to Aisha Fahmy Palace in one fine afternoon to see its latest exhibit of the Egyptian Museums’ treasures. I went to the Mohamed Ali era exhibit era and it was amazing. Then came this exhibit “The Classical European art pieces in Egyptian Museums” and it blew my mind.

It is the third exhibit in the Egyptian Museums’ treasures exhibit series the Palace has been holding since its inauguration.

Now how those paintings and statues ended up in Egypt. Well, thank Egypt’s fine collectors from Mohamed Ali Royal Family and the rich class from Pashas like Mohamed Mahmoud Pasha Khalil. Those fine collectors were unfortunately nationalized and thankfully those paintings were locked up and kept safely for decades despite attempts to showcase them. 

The exhibition was held at Aisha Fahmy Palace, which is a piece of art from inside 

That exhibit had paintings and sculptures that came from three main museums: Giza’s Mohamed Mahmoud Khalil Museum, Cairo’s Gezira Center for Modern Art aka Egyptian Modern Art Museum and Alexandria’s Museum of Fine Arts.

It shows a glimpse of Egypt’s own European fine arts collection.

In this post I am focusing only on the paintings I found there.

And our quick tour starts here with Monet

Kodak Agfa Presents : The Royal Taxidermy and Hunting Museum

This post was planned for the occasion of Egypt’s National Day aka 23 July Coup/Revolution/Movement “Whatever you prefer” as Kodak Agfa would like to share with you those couple of photos taken in summer 2019 but time was not that friendly.

It ended up posted a month later!!

If you are into bizarre-stuff-niche museums with a little dark twist, then you will like this post. 

If you are into hunting and animal taxidermy, then this is your place.

Gazelles shoulder mount taxidermy at the Royal taxidermy

This post is about the Mohamed Ali Taxidermy and Hunting Museum or as officially known “Royal Hunting Museum”.

This place is in the Prince Mohamed Ali Tawfik Estate at Cairo’s Al-Manial island which I visited with a group of friends in August 2019.

We already visited its beautiful small mosque and saw how much the eccentric prince who could have been a king was influenced by Islamic architecture especially in Andalusia.

Our next stop in this big estate that looks like a small oasis inside the buzzing Cairo is the Royal Hunting Museum or Mohamed Ali taxidermy museum. “I hope its trees survive the trees massacre still going on across the country”

Water Buffaloe's shoulder mount taxidermy and goose taxidermy
 at the Royal taxidermy museum

First, I apologize for the bad photography as the lighting in the Museum is not camera friendly. There are out of focus photos too. 

I thought at first this is the personal collection of Prince Mohamed Ali Tawfik and that building where he used to taxidermize those poor animals he hunted and collected.

This made me think that he would be more eccentric than he was already.

But I was mistaken.

That small building located near the mosque did not exist before the 1960s. It was not part of the original buildings in the estate, nor it was commissioned by Prince Mohamed Ali Tawfik.

Kodak Agfa Presents: A quick visit to Egypt’s North Coast in 2020

As we are starting summer, here are some vibes from 2020 summer when Kodak Agfa and family managed to take some time off and headed for the North Coast.

We headed to North Coast’s Sidi Abdel Rahman.

This is how it looks like.

This is an Egyptian beach

Yes, this beach is in Egypt and not in the Maldives. I know it sounds cliché but I will use it anyway.

But first, there was a three-day- vacation in Porto Marnia but it was more of sick leave in August where I could not swim or stay long at the beach because I had a bad ear infection whose medication made me sleepy most of the time.

“It returned back this week mildly but thank God I treated it quickly”

At Porto Marina and the other side of the lagoon Marina 

It was a good break thought and my camera accompanied me in that break.

Kodak Agfa Presents : Bahariya Oasis Heritage Private Museum

In February 2019, Kodak Agfa went on a short trip to the amazing and wonderful Bahariya Oasis of Egypt. Despite it follows the Giza governorate officially yet it is considered in the heart of the Western desert or rather we can consider it the gate of the Western Desert and its oases 

Interestingly the Bahariya Oasis is known in Egypt as Bahariya Oases and not only One oasis.

There are sites many sites and places I have been on this short trip including the city of Bawiti where I have been staying but I will kick it off with this small private museum I have been to hours before going back to Cairo.

That small private museum is the Bahariya Oasis Heritage. 

The Bahariya Oasis Heritage Museum from outside

This small privately-owned and operated museum is dedicated to the heritage, culture and history of the Bahariya Oasis, which is actually quite a mysterious place for the majority of the Egyptians from the valley of the Nile.

It is not your usual museum where you can find a collection of old artefacts but rather it is a heritage and art museum.

Kodak Agfa presents : Fayoum’s Magic Lake 2017 in photos

This is the third post in a series of posts featuring my short visit in 2017 with my family to the amazing Fayoum governorate. "Warning: The photos may not be the best"

The first post in the series featured Lake Qaron aka Lake Moeries while the second post featured the Wadi El-Rayan waterfalls.

Now, this post is dedicated also to another amazing place in the Wadi El-Rayan protectorate.

We have not finished yet this protectorate.

Our next stop on that trip was at the Magic Lake region.

This is the Magic lake region

Yes, the Magic lake region is its name and it is one of the most beautiful places in Egypt by far.

Kodak Agfa Presents : Golden Hour photos in Marina 2020

Happy New year, this is the first Kodak Agfa post in the year 2021

This is one of the best Kodak Agfa’s photographic moments in 2020.

The Golden hour aka a late August sunset 

The golden hour in Marina Alamein in late August.

For the first time, I managed to photograph the amazing golden hour in a perfect moment. 

Coronavirus on the Nile : Another week of all things COVID-19 in Egypt and Arab World

Another week under the Coronavirus spill in the mid of a hot summer.

The numbers are decreasing in Egypt but many people including myself are concerned that this decrease will be followed by another increase once again just like in other countries.

Preparing the vaccine in Egypt at Eva pharma labs 
"Getty"

The Egyptian government is speaking about the Egyptian citizen’s awareness and honestly, I believe government relying alone on the citizens’ awareness was a lost bet and the number of cases in the United States is a proof for that.

This is why I am concerned and worried.

As humans, we are fed up with this lockdown and it is summer. We will go out and many of us won’t follow the social distancing rules or wear masks because he or she is fed up.

Needless to say, we will pay because of this reckless behaviour. God knows I have heard a lot of examples of this reckless behaviour and it makes me worry. 

Unfortunately, we will be in this cycle till we find a cure or vaccine with affordable price. Please stay safe as much as you can. 

Here is our weekly COVID-19 live update.

Coronavirus on the Nile : Live updates of Coping with Coronavirus in Egypt and MENA

It is a new month under coronavirus worldwide and in Egypt.

At the pyramids plateau of Giza after re-opening 
"Reuters"

More and more people seem to care less about coronavirus now except for the masks but other than many people try to return back to the normal days.

More touristic places are open to visitors like the Great Pyramids. 

The numbers of daily infection rates have been stable in the past two weeks so far but we won’t see the impact of last week grand re-opening except in the coming weeks.

Please stay safe and stay home as much as you can.

Coronavirus on the Nile : Coronavirus patients number jumps to 166 , two new deaths, 300 families in quarantine and Egypt suspends flights temporarily

Monday was even busier in Cairo when it comes to Coronavirus and its outbreak like any other place in the world. Here is a quick recap. It is like we are in front of a new level every day. It is getting more serious every day.

Don't know the illustrator but I found it on
Twitter

First of all, there is a worrying jump in the Coronavirus patients number in Egypt on Monday.
It jumped from 126 Monday afternoon to be 166 after officially registering new 40 positive Coronavirus cases in the country according to the ministry of health and the World Health Organization.

Two Coronavirus patients have passed away raising the country’s death into 4. The two additional cases are for an an-72-years-old German tourist who passed away in hospital in Luxor and a 50-years-old Egyptian man from Nile Delta’s Dakahalia Governorate.

Back to the new 40 patients, it turned out that they are 35 Egyptians and 5 foreigners.
The 35 Egyptians include 8 Egyptians who returned back from Omra pilgrimage before its suspension in Saudi Arabia while the others contracted the virus from previously registered cases and were discovered in according to the tracing procedures of the WHO. 

The statement revealed that all the registered cases currently receiving treatment in quarantine hospitals in stable condition except 7 patients in fair conditions and two patients in critical condition.

Coronavirus on the Nile : Patients number reaches 59 but Some have recovered, No public gatherings in Egypt and Lebanon’s first COVID19 fatality "Live"

I could not write and publish this daily update because it I am really tired and exhausted , it is one of those times journalists around the globe that feel the stress to the bone.
Anyhow in Monday and Tuesday here is the latest updates concerning Coronavirus and its panic , yes there is panic
To be honest , I do not understand if this global panic was right in its place or was too much.

Corona Hot Chocolate 

May be as a veteran Egyptian who suffers from cold and flu every year , sometimes I feel I do not get the fuss especially the death rate has not reached an alarming point yet and hopefully it won’t.
I want to write something about Grand Ethiopian Dam but I can’t find proper time to deal with this extremely critical and important matter.
The first part of the post will be pinned while the rest I will be using Live updating to catch news quickly like respectable news blog in those tough days

Corona Patients numbers increase but some have began to recover already 

The Novel Coronavirus patients began to recover in Egypt according to the latest Ministry of health’s
Late Monday , Egypt’s Health Ministry and World Health Organization “WHO” declared that the number of Coronavirus patients in the country increased to 59.

According to the Egyptian MOH, the new cases that tested positive are 4 cases ; a foreigner lady and three Egyptians.

The official MOH did not elaborate much about the case but the word in the media since last night that the foreign lady was actually the widow of the German tourist who passed away in Hurghada because of Coronavirus and became the country’s first COVID19 fatality.  

The other three Egyptians are said to be from the people who interacted with the Coronavirus patients in the past few days. They were all transferred to the quarantine hospital in Marsa Matrouh

In a co-joint press conference with other ministers over Coronavirus  by Health Minister Hala Zayid stated an interesting fact that out of those 59 cases tested positive for Coronavirus , 51 did not show any symptoms.

She also revealed on Wednesday Egypt will receive the batch of a new Coronavirus testing kit that was introduced only to the world last week.

Also interesting fact was revealed in the press by the minister of media state affairs Osama Heikal "Yes, both are back whether the title or Heikal in government" , Egypt will test all incoming travelers starting from Wednesday. I do not know but this means not the travelers were being examined before.

Live update

Coronavirus on the Nile : Egypt's first Coronavirus death, Patients Numbers jump to 55 , queues for PCR Certificates and patient in critical condition "Updated"

First of all, Egypt’s ministry of health announced the country as well the continent’s first Coronavirus death case

According to the ministry of health, a 60-years-old German tourist who arrived in Egypt from 7 days ago.

The German patient was admitted to the hospital Friday 6 March 2020 after arriving from Luxor as he began to have a high fever.

He was found positive for Coronavirus on 7 March 2020 and at the same time, he was admitted to the ICU because his condition deteriorated but he refused to be transferred to the quarantine hospital in Marsa Matrouh.

His condition deteriorated more as he suffered respiratory failure caused by acute pneumonia. He passed away on Sunday 8 March 2019.

He is the first Coronavirus death in Egypt and Africa. I feel sorry for his death and I sincerely present my condolences to his family and friends.

We know that he is from Hamburg and actually his wife is currently being tested too.

Now according to my sources, the German patient was staying had spent a couple of days in a Nile Cruise between Luxor and Aswan.
The Nile Cruise boat and its passengers and crew members are being examined. We are speaking about not less than 100 people.

Hopefully, there will be no more outbreaks.

The numbers jump to 55 Coronavirus patients in Egypt

Egypt’s MOH announced that the Coronavirus patients jump in Egypt to 55 late Sunday evening

According to the MOH Spokesperson , 7 new cases included a male nurse who care for the Coronavirus Egyptian patient who came from Serbia and one of his relatives.

An Egyptian returning from “Umrah pilgrim” in Saudi Arabia as well as two relatives of one of the infected foreigners and another person who was on the board of M/S ASARA

This is not good at all.

The Central Public Health Laboratories’ sad scene

I am wondering if the Egyptian government especially the ministry of health expected or imagined the number of Egyptians who would stand in queues for hours on Sunday to get a Free-Coronavirus PCR Certificate so they can go and work in the Gulf from MOH’s Central Public Health Laboratories main headquarter !!!

Standing in front of the Central Lab in Downtown Cairo
by amazing Roger Anis

Since early morning, thousands of Egyptians including whole families stood in queues that turned into human blocks for hours in front of the Central lab of the health ministry to get the LE 1000-PCR Certificate in Downtown Cairo.

Coronavirus on the Nile : The Nile “Cruise” Corona cases jump to 34 cases , PCR analysis prices and more Gulf travel restrictions on Egyptian “Updated”

The same Corona ad every time

Just from a couple of minutes ago in Cairo, Egypt’s minister of health Hala Zayed announced Saturday evening that new 33 cases tested positive for Coronavirus from the passengers on that Nile Cruise that witnessed the largest outbreak of the virus in the country.

In a press conference held with Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, Minister Zayed stated that only one case of suspected 12 Coronavirus cases from the Egyptian crew tested positive while the rest 11 tested negative.
She also added that the 11 are currently quarantined on the board of the ship in Luxor after its sanitization.
Now to the new 33 cases, it turned out that there were also on the board of the Nile Cruise.
The 34 cases are going to be transferred to the Naegla Hospital in Marsa Matrouh as said in the presser.

“There were 171 people on the board of the cruise ship including 101 foreigners and 70 Egyptians and after discovering the outbreak zone, we confirmed that 45 Coronavirus cases were on the board of the ship including 19 foreigners,” Hala Zayed said.

Coronavirus on the Nile : New 12 cases in Egypt "Updated"

Just from a couple of minutes ago, Egypt’s Health Ministry and World Health Organization “WHO” announced the discovery of 12 new cases that test positive to Coronavirus raising the number of discovered the Novel Coronavirus in the country to 15 cases.

The 12 cases are for Egyptians who work on a Nile Cruise coming from Aswan to Luxor.

An old ad for Egypt's famous Corona
Hot Chocolate 

The “index case” of this outbreak was the US-Taiwanese tourist who was on the board of the cruise who was discovered in the United States and according to the news report, she did not only transmit the virus to the 12 Egyptians but to two US tourists on the same cruise who returned back to the States.

This outbreak shows that the virus has nothing to with the warm weather because Luxor and Aswan are usually warmer than the rest of the county in the time of that cruise.

The Egyptian MOH stated that all the people who dealt with the index case have been placed under quarantine for 14 days and they showed no symptoms but after conducting PCR tests, 12 Egyptian workers were tested positive and have been placed under more medical restricted quarantine.

Now officially the number of people infected by the virus since its outbreak jumped into 15 cases in Egypt.

The first case was for a Chinese citizen who was cured while the second case was a Canadian citizen working in the oil sector and currently is under quarantine.

Kodak Agfa presents : Egypt's Al-Azbakiya books market in photos and in video

There is no better time to share this than World Books Day.
It was one of my dreams and plans to visit the Cairo famous Al-Azbakiya market , Egypt and the Arab world oldest official second-hand book market.
This is the place where you can find old magazines and newspapers and secondhand books at reasonable prices in Downtown Cairo.
Its history starts officially in 1907 during the time of  Khedive Abbas Helmi II in the most unexpected way ever in the heart of the once upscale Al-Azbakiya district.
You can hear and know its full story from one of its oldest books vendor there Mr. Harbi Hassab.

Mr. Harbi Hassab inherited the job from his father and grandfather. He was kind enough to give some time for quick chitchat.
I know I still got this video shaking thing, I have not mastered yet the use of gimble because it takes a time to install the camera on it and move around quickly in a crowded place alone like Al-Azbakiya in Downtown Cairo.
Nevertheless, I tried my luck with a Go Pro fusion 360 camera but I have not still mastered editing its files.
I know that I have got a problem in sound and I have already added buying a mic to my to-do-list.

Visitors at Al-Azbakiya Market in Cairo 

Kodak Agfa presents : A 2017 short visit to Fayoum's Lake Qarun

Kodak Agfa is back once again in 2020.

We are in 2020 but this post goes back a short visit to the amazing and beautiful Fayoum governorate in 2017.

It is like a good thing to remember those warm days in our very cold night in Cairo right now.

Hopefully, it will be the first in a series for posts and photos published for the first time on Egyptian Chronicles about this beautiful place in Egypt this month.

Fayoum is like one of Egypt’s best-kept secret with its rich history as well as its amazing natural landscape that takes your breath away and the kindness of its people that capture your heart.

I will be scratching the surface in this post because here I am digging the history of Egypt probably from the time when dinosaurs roamed this land.

It had been known to the Egyptians for decades as the land of Lake Qarun or as known in Greek Lake Moeris and its famous norias whether in Fayoum city itself or its villages.

A boat in Lake Qarun

A protected area since 2012,  the-202-square-km Lake Qarun is one of Egypt’s largest natural lakes. Its depth is 43 meters below the sea-level.
It is also one of the oldest lakes in the country and the region too.
It goes back to prehistory and during then it was much bigger and wider covering at least 1,2700 square km.
By the time, it has shrunken.

Lake Qarun from the West