The “gallery“ at the wall of the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Cairo in Dokki Street will change its appearance again. After the successful Famous Czech Composers, a new exhibition entitled Journeys of the Heads of States will follow.

Curated and authored by Adéla Jůnová Macková and Libor Jůn, the exhibition texts are accompanied by the unique photographs that were lended by the Czech Academy of Sciences and the National Museum of the Czech Republic. The Journeys of the Heads of States exhibition is organized by:

• Czech Centres
• Embassy of the Czech Republic in Cairo

The Masaryk Institute and Archives of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic

Adéla Jůnová Macková, the curator and co-author, explains the focus of the exhibition: In the 1920s, as a new successor state to Austria-Hungary, Czechoslovakia began building a network of diplomatic missions worldwide, focusing on establishing economic ties and cultural representation. Though its political influence in the Middle East was limited, Czechoslovak consulates and embassies played a vital role in advancing trade, which saw a marked increase in the 1930s as more Czechoslovak goods entered overseas markets. It was also a time when the travellers from various social groups included Egypt in their itineraries. The exhibition primarily focuses on a private journey of the first Czechoslovak President Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk to Egypt in 1927 and

on official travel of Egyptian king Fuad I to Czechoslovakia. Both journeys contributed to promotion of Czechoslovak cultural and economic relations with Egypt.

On display up until February 2025, the exhibition will be open to the general public all times since it is located directly at the wall of the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Dokki Street, close to the end of the Dokki street and Ahmed Zewail Street.

Ivan Jukl, Ambassador of the Czech Republic to Egypt, adds to the exhibition context and builds on the words of the curator: We have just celebrated 106 years since the establishment of an independent democratic Czechoslovakia. The exhibition takes us to the 1920s. The year 1922 marks a milestone and the beginning of diplomatic relations between Czechoslovakia and Egypt. And now we can go back in time together and see the stunning period photographs of the Founding Fathers of both, at that time newly independent, states – President Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk and King Fuad I. The exhibition allows us to see King Fuad I in Prague and it brings many fascinating details about journey of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk in Egypt.