On Monday, April 6th, in a gala evening at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, I joined H.E. Farouk Hosni, Minister of Culture of Egypt, and H.E. Cesar Antonio Molina, Minister of Culture of Spain, in inaugurating the new exhibition “120 Years of Spanish Archaeology.”  I was honored to be presented during the ceremony with the medal of the Order of Arts and Culture of Spain. Spanish ambassador to Egypt H.E. Antonio Lopez Martinez and world-renowned actor Omar Sharif were among the distinguished guests who attended the festivities.

On Monday, April 6th, in a gala evening at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, I joined H.E. Farouk Hosni, Minister of Culture of Egypt, and H.E. Cesar Antonio Molina, Minister of Culture of Spain, in inaugurating the new exhibition “120 Years of Spanish Archaeology.”  I was honored to be presented during the ceremony with the medal of the Order of Arts and Culture of Spain. Spanish ambassador to Egypt H.E. Antonio Lopez Martinez and world-renowned actor Omar Sharif were among the distinguished guests who attended the festivities.

The evening opened with a sunset ceremony in the museum garden. A standing-room-only crowd made up of archaeologists, heritage professionals, and dignitaries gathered in front of the tomb of Auguste Mariette to hear speeches celebrating both the history and the future of Spanish archaeology in Egypt. At the conclusion of the ceremony, Spanish Minister of Culture Molina announced that Spain was presenting me with the medal of the Spanish Order of Arts and Culture. I am deeply honored to have received this distinction. The Royal Palace in Madrid sent a message, which was read on behalf of His Majesty King Juan Carlos I, stating that the award was being conferred on me in recognition of my achievements in archeology, along with the special relationship that I have built over the years with Spanish archaeologists.

I was asked to say some words of acceptance, and so I gave a speech in which I told the story of my love for Spain. I visited Madrid for the first time over 25 years ago, when I was invited by a TV program called “The Key” to be a guest on a three hour program with presenter Mr. Baldin about the pyramids. The audience laughed when I told them that the shoes I had brought with me were too small, and so I spent much of my time in Madrid barefoot! My second visit to Spain came 10 years ago, when I was invited to lecture by the Spanish Association of Egyptology, who chose me in 2005 as one of the “Stars of Egypt” along with Naguib Mahfouz, Omar Sharif, Ahmed Zuweil, and Umm Kalthoum. During that visit, I spoke in the auditorium where Howard Carter gave his first lectured after his discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun. It seats 700 people, and was completely full. My good friend Luis Monreal and Her Majesty Queen Sofia were seated in the front row. I spoke in English, and whenever I would make joke, I remember that Luis and Queen Sofia would laugh before the translator spoke in Spanish! I had the honor on that visit of meeting the queen after the lecture in a private room. We had a fascinating conversation about Egypt. Since then, it has been my privilege to meet Queen Sofia in Egypt on three different occasions when she has come to see my discoveries at Giza and Saqqara. On her first memorable visit, she asked to see the tombs of the pyramid builders. Although the site was not on the official route, and security was very put out by the change in plans, I went with her to the site! Perhaps her most special visit was when the queen and a group of her friends appeared at Giza with a camera, and without any official notice. The queen said that she wanted to see the site as a tourist, and I was the only person who knew that she was there. The queen and her friends spent 6 hours touring the site and taking photographs. She took beautiful shots of everything at Giza, including my excavations in the western mastaba field, the area south of the pyramid fo Menkaure, the tombs of the pyramid builders, and the Great Sphinx. I have copies of these photographs, which I treasure greatly. Last year, Her Majesty asked to visit Saqqara to see my work in the Teti cemetery at Saqqara. I showed her the new pyramid that my team and I discovered, and then we went to see the restoration worn at the Step Pyramid. I went with the queen into the Step Pyramid’s south entrance, from which it is possible to gaze down into the burial chamber of Djoser and see miracle of ancient Egyptian engineering. I also went with her to see the beautiful tomb of Nefer and the new Imhotep Museum.

In my acceptance speech, I also discussed the important role that Spanish archaeologists have played in the history of Egyptology. He praised the work of the first Spanish archaeologist in Egypt, Eduardo Toda. Toda was a Spanish diplomat who lived in Cairo in the late 19th century, and played a key role in the excavation of TT1, the tomb of Sennedjem, which was discovered in 1886. He also talked about the important role of Spanish archaeologists in the UNESCO Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia -between 1961 and 1964, Spanish archaeologists worked on an intensive campaign of salvage archaeology in Nubia under the direction of Martin Almagro Basch. The achievements  of the Spanish team included the study of 2 prehistoric deposits, 3 Christian settlements, around 300 groups of rock art, and 20 necropoleis from different eras, including a total of some 1,500 tombs. In return for Spain’s role in saving the monuments of Nubia, the Egyptian government gave them the temple of Debod, which was begun in the Kushite period and expanded and completed in the Ptolemaic and Roman Periods. Today, the temple stands reconstructed in a beautiful park in Madrid.

I also discussed the work of Spanish missions in Egypt today, including Carmen Perez Die’s team excavating at Ehnasya and Myriam Seco Alvarez’s team excavating and restoring the temple of Thutmose III on the West Bank of Luxor. I talked about Jose Galan’s excavation of TT11, the tomb of Djehuty, at Dra Abu El-Naga. This mission recently discovered a beautiful painted burial chamber in the tomb, one of only five painted burial chambers known from that period.

After the opening speeches, everyone enjoyed a Flamenco jazz performance. We then moved into the temporary exhibition hall inside the museum, where I joined Minister of Culture Hosni and Minister of Culture Molina in cutting of the ribbon for the exhibition. There entire area was packed with people, and the flashes of photographers were going   off all around us. Omar Sharif joined us in touring the exhibition, which we all agreed is beautifully presented. It features some 137 objects discovered by Spanish archaeologists from the late 19th century to the present. Among the highlights are the painted coffin and burial equipment of Sennedjem, and a blocks from the site of Kom El-Khamsin at Saqqara incsribed for a mysterious priest with the unusual name of Imep-Hor. A delightful cocktail reception in the museum garden capped off the night. Omar Sharif and I, however, decided to escape the crowd and left early. I do not think anyone noticed us leaving, because they were enjoying themselves so much. The exhibition is a fitting tribute to the important contributions of Spanish scholars to the field of Egyptology over more than a century, and the opening ceremony was the perfect way to celebrate the cooperation between Spain and Egypt in the field of culture.