Exhibition: Mubarak sends greeting message to Egypt's "Sunken Treasures Exhibition" in Japan

Egypt State Information Service

President Hosni Mubarak sent a message of greetings to "Egypt's Sunken Treasures Exhibition" to be opened by Egyptian ambassador to Japan Walid Abdel-Naser in Yokohama city.

In his message, Mubarak hoped that the exhibition would help the Japanese people get more acquainted with the Egyptian civilization, along with boosting Egyptian-Japanese ties in the various fields, Ambassador Abdel-Naser said in statements.

The exhibition will coincide with celebrations marking the 150 th anniversary of the opening Yokohama Port and the 130 th anniversary of publishing the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.

The opening ceremony of the exhibition, to be held from June 27 through September 23, will be attended by Yokohama Mayor Hiroshi Nakada.

It is organized by the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), the Asahi Shumbun newspaper, Japan's TBS television network and the Egyptian embassy in Tokyo and its information and tourism offices.

The exhibition includes 489 pieces salvaged from the Mediterranean Sea in Alexandria.

The artifacts include some gigantic stone statues each up to 5 meters tall and weighing 6 tons.The pieces, dating back to different historical periods, focuses on the Ptolemaic Dynasty (305-30 BCE).
They were fished out by Egyptian archeologists in association with a European Institute of Submarine Archeology mission working in Alexandria since the early 1990s.

The Egyptian embassy in Tokyo will organize an Egyptian tourist week in Yokohama city from June 30 through July 5 on the sidelines of the exhibition.