There are few times that I visit Cairo without going to the Museum of Mahmoud Khalil, Ahmed Shawky and Taha Hussein.
My visit to the Prince of Poets is frequently repeated, and perhaps the reason is the museum’s proximity to the hotels that I used to stay in, and perhaps the Taha Hussein Museum is the least fortunate to visit, and the reason is after it as it is located in the Haram area, which no longer attracts tourists as in the old time, except that today I resolved to visit The author of “Al-Ayyam”, and I am the one who became addicted to his compilations: “Hadith Wednesday”, “The Great Sedition”, “The Selected in the Poetry of the Arabs”. And here I discovered that we both admire the poetry of the Qatari ruler of the Kharijites, Ibn Al-Fuja’a, and other important works.
Taha Hussein and Sayed Makkawi, I think we don’t see 10% of what they saw. They are sighted and we are blind. Yes, I did not care about any of the Arab ministries, neither finance nor commerce nor the interior, and although bread and security are an important need, culture is what preoccupies me.
Today, in particular, I remembered the great friend and distinguished artist, Farouk Hosni.
Yes, I lamented him on my way to the museum, as I had never visited him except with him, and he is elegant and keen on cleanliness and order. It reflected on the cultural situation in Egypt during his tenure.
In the heart of “Madkour” Street, branching from “Faisal” Street and leading to “Taha Hussein Street”, no one knows where the museum is located, except for the elderly in the neighborhood. Oh Hanem, what brings you to these places?!
I did not respond to him, because in the colloquial dialect he is “overpowering.” Otherwise, the response would be to get out of the taxi, and I want to arrive before the museum closes its doors.
Al-Tama when I entered the street laden with dirt, and the ugly modern construction has affected it, as there is no longer in the place except “Villa Ramatan”, which is the name given by the Dean of Arabic Literature to his house, and its meaning is twofold for the word Ramah, which is a region in the Arabian Peninsula and means sand dunes, which is characterized by fragrant aroma. The pasture and the beauty of the landscape.
The last visit to the place, I attended with the Saudi Ambassador Saad Al-Ibrahim and his young daughter, whose name I no longer remember, and Princess Reem Al-Faisal, where we inaugurated her art exhibition.
Today the place is forgotten, and only a few Arabs visit it. I stayed for more than an hour and a half inside the museum, and no one else entered. I asked the women who supervise the museum about the reason. The response was that the people of the country rarely come except for school students.
Taha Hussein, the simple, blind farmer, was able to impress the great intellectuals of France, and he obtained a doctorate
There is a proverb in Lebanon that I love very much. It says: “The neighborhood church does not heal anyone.” Yes, the proverb is very true, and it means that beauty and creativity are not appreciated by its people, and this is true. Unfortunately, the price of the card is 10 pounds for foreigners, or about a quarter of a dollar only. I bought two cards for myself and to help me. For 20 pounds. I remembered my visit to the Pushkin Museum in the Russian city of “St. Petersburg”, and the entrance ticket was more than 15 dollars, at that time we waited for our turn for more than two hours, and most of those standing in the long line were from the people of the city, fathers and mothers holding the hands of their children, to get to know the great Russian poet!
Taha Hussein, the simple, blind farmer, was able to impress the great intellectuals of France, and obtain a doctorate, after which he heads the Ministry of Education and becomes the dean of Arabic literature. I admit that I lived unforgettable moments in his house, starting from his office, his library, and the room of his son Mu’nis, and most importantly, I saw a painting that was given to him by an artist whose name I did not remember, but he wrote the Holy Qur’an in a painting, where the last word in the surah ends in red and then begins with black, and this painting is one of the most beautiful What I watched.
In addition to the other paintings, which were drawn by the masters of plastic art at that time, as well as the cabinets of his holdings, in the forefront of which are the black round glasses and medals, except for the “Nile Necklace” made of pure gold, which was granted only to kings and heads of state. I was sad not to see the necklace, and the museum guide told me that it was kept in a safe place far away, for fear that a thief might break into the museum and steal it.
Then I went to the room of Taha Hussein’s French wife, Suzanne Brisso, whose taste dominated the place, although I had not seen her dresses that I had previously seen, and she was very beautiful, her colors unforgettable, and the official told me that they were preserved, for fear of being eaten by moths. In the famous Sunday Salon, and Naguib Mahfouz and other writers of that beautiful time were at the forefront of attending the salon, then he reached his library full of Arabic, French, Greek, Latin, and other languages that he mastered, and we also watched the “Gramophone” corner, which he used to send with all the classical music, And the radio from which he used to hear the Holy Qur’an broadcast…..
Oh God, what a huge amount of beauty, really unforgettable moments of life, and if I were destined to return to the same place tomorrow, I would live with the same moments of joy.
I do not hide from you how much I dreamed of holding the 15th Nawal Al-Hiwar Salon in the same place where Ahad Taha Hussein’s salon was held, in the presence of all the giants of the beautiful time!
Dreams are available.. right?!
Nawal Dialogue
