Fifty years of Czech Egytpology

The Prague Post (Ondřej Bouda)

The history of the country’s accomplishments in the field of Egyptology hits an important milestone this year as the Czech Institute of Egyptology turns 50. The birthday of the institute, located in Prague, will be celebrated with a series of exhibitions in Egypt as well as in the Czech Republic. President Václav Klaus will open one exhibit in Cairo April 7. Two others are also planned for Prague, one at Liechtenstein Palace April 17, and the other this fall at the Náprstek Museum of Asian, African and American Cultures. The institute is also publishing several books about its five decades of achievements.

One of the greatest accomplishments is the institute’s participation in the UNESCO effort to save ancient Egyptian monuments in Nubia during the 1960s after the Egyptian government asked the international community for help when the construction of the Aswan High Dam threatened to flood priceless artifacts. As a reward for those efforts, the Egyptian government granted Czechoslovak Egyptologists one of the largest concessions for excavations ever issued, and for the past 40 years local scientists have made several important discoveries in the Abusir necropolis located some 30 kilometers (19 miles) south of Cairo.