In a press release by the Cairo Opera House, Minister of Culture Inas Abdel Dayem announced that the ‘Luxor: The Capital of Arab Culture’ festival, which is taking place from March 15-18, will be under the auspices of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. The festival will take place in several locations throughout Luxor, including prominent tourist sites and small villages. Abdel Dayem announced there will be several events throughout the three days. Day one will include performances by traditional dance troupes such as ‘Tazawok Lel Fonoon Al-Shaabya’, ‘Luxor Lel Fonoon Al Shaabya’, and ‘Sohag Lel Fonnoon Al Shaabya’. They will all perform in Abu Haggag Square, a boat for the locals, Tegara Square, and Akaleem Square.

The Arab World Institute in Paris will host a large exhibition about the 4000-year history of Egypt’s Suez Canal on the 26th of March, reviewing the adventures and stages of the important waterway. The exhibition, “Suez Canal epic: from the pharaohs to the 21st century,” includes photographs, antiques and recorded films telling the history of Egypt and the canal since the pharaonic civilization through the digging of the new Suez Canal.

March and April are among the most dynamic months on Egypt s cultural calendar. It is a time of festivals, theatre, music and dance. Depending on their themes and missions, the festivals bring different components into their repertoires, many of them focusing on younger or older audiences. In the arts world, and especially in Egypt s culture sphere — with a population of over 100 million— the youngest audience, toddlers, small children and teenagers are the least fortunate when it comes to what is on offer. Even in Cairo what few stage plays and other sporadic events are held leave children thirsty for culture and parents unaware of their needs; the situation is of course much worse outside the capital.

Algerian filmmaker Yasmine Chouikh s Until the End of Time, which premiered at the Dubai Film Festival last year, opened the 11th round of the Cairo International Women s Film Festival (3-9 March). The event started 10 years ago as the Caravan of Arab and Iberoamerican Women s Films (2007-2013), before becoming an international festival.

Egypt was able to successfully foil an attempt of trafficking 13 pieces of crocodile skin and other wild anim­als from a private boat in Lake Nasser, northern of Aswan, Al Arabiya reported earlier this week. Said to be the largest batch of illegal animal skin to be seized in history, the perpetrators were caught on a private boat by Egyptian police following a notification from the Aswan Reserves that a crocodile hunt was taking place in the area for illegal trafficking purposes.

Egyptian-British cardiothoracic surgeon Sir Magdi Yacoub embarked on a tour of Abu Simbel Temple in Upper Egypt on Sunday, further putting paid to rumours concerning his health. Yacoub visited the archaeological site in the company of several VIP guests from Britain who had come to see the Aswan Heart Centre, the cornerstone of the Magdy Yacoub Foundation.

In recent years, Indian culture has strongly made its way into Egypt. From Bollywood movies to Bollywood extravaganza theatre shows, Egyptian people have got a virtual tour of Indian life, and fell in love with their most idolized actors such as Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan and Sridevi. Even when Bollywood movies did not fully hold up, Egyptians continued to love them and follow them, to the extent that a channel that specializes in dubbing Indian films to Arabic was created to appease the growing fan base. However, this year, promises to take Egyptian-Indian cultural exchange made it to a whole new level as the sixth edition of the “India by the Nile” festival will be taking place between March 6 and 17 in Cairo, Alexandria and Port Said. The festival hopes to further immerse Egyptians into the rich Indian culture.

Egypt’s Health Ministry has approved the introduction of a new drug for diabetes, injected once a week, four times a month, which inhibits the sudden drop in the blood’s glucose level if blood-sugar levels are to decrease. During a press conference on Tuesday to announce the introduction of the new drug to the Egyptian market, the Head of National Institute of Diabetes and Endocrinology, Hesham al-Hefnawy, said that diabetes is a common disease which 415 million people around the world suffered from in 2015.

The Egyptian expedition working on the groundwater treatment project at the Kom Ombo Temple in Aswan discovered parts of a statue of King Ramses II. The discovered head showed King Ramses II wearing the white crown of pharaonic Upper Egypt. The importance of this discovery lies in the fact that it serves as new evidence of the existence and use of the Kom Ombo Temple during the Ancient Egyptian modern state-era. There were little proofs supporting this prior to the discovery, but included the inscriptions belonging to King Thutmose III on the walls of temple, head of the Antiquities Sector with the Antiquities Ministry Ayman Ashmawy said in a statement on Tuesday.

For the first time in history, two Egyptian movies will be taking part in Haifa Film Festival which takes place in Israeli city of Hifa from 22 to 27 March. The two movies will screen in addition to 25 other international movies. In the Best Long Movie category, Amr Salama’s hit movie Sheikh Jackson will be hitting the Israeli screens. “Aida,” which is directed by Maysoun Al-Masry, will be featured in the long documentary category along with nine other films, according to the festival’s official website.

Minister of Antiquities Khaled El-Anany announced on Friday launching a new museum in Hurghada governorate, according to a press release issued by the ministry. The announcement was made at the inauguration of a sculpture exhibition that marked the end of the International Sculpture Symposium in Hurghada. The symposium was attended by Ahmed Abdullah, governor of the Red Sea governorate.

Ballet fanatics in Egypt have a cause to celebrate next month as the “Imperial Russian Ballet” company will be performing Swan Lake on the Cairo Opera House stage next month. From March 7 till the 9, 45 young dancers from the major ballet schools of Russia will be joined by two ballet stars from the Mikhaylovsky theatre in St. Petersburg: Anton Ploom in the role of Prince Siegfried and Anastasia Lomachenkova as Odette/Odile.

With it being as unique as our voices or fingerprints, our handwriting can reveal a lot about us from our thought process to our current health state. In analyzing handwriting, a small indent or spacing can have a significant relation to a specific trait or characteristic present in the person analyzed, according to master graphologist Kathi McKnight.

Cairo’s Opera metro station is a station like no other. Situated in Cairo’s cultural hub close to the Opera house that has hosted some of the most spectacular performances ever, the station is like the magic gate to all that is sophisticated and wonderful. Sadly, the metro station has fallen victim to neglect, with its walls turned into a dull shade of grey. However, a group of eleven artists that goes by the name of “Mobdeoon” (Innovators) decided to breathe life into the station’s walls. With spray colors and three weeks of tireless work, “Mobdeoon” colored the station’s walls to represent the solar system. In each “planet” shone the face of a famous Egyptian figure.

Egypt’s appreciation for the film industry has taken a leap in recent years, as demonstrated by the several film festivals that have taken place. From Gouna Film Festival to the European Film Festival, Egypt has began showing appreciation for various types of films. One Egyptian festival has been appreciating short films for the past 14 years. Sakia Festival for Short Feature Films 15th edition will run from March 6-7 and will take place in El-Sawy Cultural Wheel.

Egypt Antiquities Minister Khalid al-Anani said on Friday that the ministry did not hide its plans to organize an exhibition containing 166 artifacts belonging to the young pharaoh Tutankhamun. He added that the exhibition is scheduled to tour seven foreign countries, starting from Los Angeles, USA on March 23 and will continue over the next 7 years.

Youssra El Hawary recently launched a new album titled “Neo om Nasyeen” (We Tend to Forget), which delivers a unique, innovative music experience through her new fusions and discrete sounds.

German cultural foundation has been bequeathed photos, films, manuscripts and letters that belonged to the controversial filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl, best known as the director of several Nazi propaganda movies.The Berlin-based Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation said on Monday that it had received an extensive collection of photographic and film material as well as manuscripts, letters, various files and documents that the director amassed during her lifetime. The donation was made by Leni Riefenstahl s former secretary, who was the sole heir to Riefenstahl s estate.

Although the Grand Egyptian Museum overlooking Giza Plateau will celebrate a soft opening in December, it is the Egyptian Museum which will remain one of Egypt s archaeological icons. To highlight some of its distinguished treasured collections, the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir overlooking Giza Plateau is to exhibit at its foyer and on a weekly basis, three of its artefacts that were located in a hidden display area, repatriated from abroad and stored in the basement.

A new 3D reconstruction of the face of the ancient Egyptian queen Nefertiti was recently unveiled by archaeologists using the latest 3D imaging technology. According to local and international media outlets, it it took 500 hours to rebuild the queen’s face, with a bust where jewelry was handmade by designers from Dior. However, the 3400-year-old Queen’s skin color sparked controversy with people claiming her skin would in reality have been darker.

All Cairenes appreciative of Swiss history and its mesmerizing culture have cause to celebrate as the embassy of Switzerland just launched an app that showcases 20 Swiss-influenced landmarks across Cairo, including historical hotels, villas, gardens and buildings once built or run by Swiss citizens in Egypt. Dubbed ‘Swiss Trail,’ the app uses GPS systems to indicate the Swiss-linked landmarks on the phone map across the country’s capital.