France presents 3000 rare pictures

The Egyptian cultural office in Paris agreed with Suez Canal Friends Association on providing Library of Alexandria with an electronic record that includes 3000 rare historical pictures that represent the stages of Suez Canal construction.

The Egyptian Cultural Counsellor in France Hani Hilal said that the Association has all the historical documents on Suez Canal since the plan to dig the Canal and till its nationalization.

He added that these documents are kept as a deposit at the documents house in North of France.

Hilal pointed out that cooperation between the Egyptian and French sides started on 1999 when a French delegation visited Egypt and presented a copy of the index which includes all Suez Canal documents in a celebration held at the office of Minister of Higher Education and State for Scientific Research Mofid Shebab.

This was followed by presenting 25 microfilm pictures that contains maps and construction drawings of the Canal's cities in addition to rare original books on Port Said city.

The counsellor added that the Association hosted one of the Library Secretaries for three months to be trained on documents concerned with the canal and with a full finance of the Association.