Dr. Mostafa el-Abbadi’s Memorial Service at the BA
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In collaboration with the Greco-Roman Archaeology Department at the Faculty of Arts, Alexandria University, and the Antiquities Association in Alexandria, the BA is organizing a memorial service for the late Dr. Mostafa el-Abbadi. The event is set to be held on Saturday, 25 March 2017 at 1:00 pm as part of this year’s Alexandria International Book Fair, which is going to be held from 23 March to 4 April 2017. Dr. El-Abbadi will be commemorated at this year’s Fair as the visionary behind the revival of the BA and for his various and valuable contributions.
The memorial service will be held under the aegis of Helmy El-Namnam, Minister of Culture, and Dr. Khaled el-Enany, Minister of antiquities, and it will be attended by Dr. Mohamed Sultan, Governor of Alexandria. The event will be made possible by the generosity of Dr. Ismail Sergeldin, Director of the BA; Dr. Essam El-Kurdi, President of Alexandria University; and Dr. Mona Haggag, President of Antiquities Association in Alexandria.
Dr. El-Abbdi is the visionary who proposed the rebirth of the Old Library of Alexandria, and he had constantly supported the BA since its inauguration and until his passing on Monday, 13 February 2017.
He had asked for his personal library and the library of his late wife Dr. Azza Kararah, professor of English Literature at the Faculty of Arts of Alexandria University, to be donated to the BA after his death. The BA will provide access to these valuable resources to the public in the near future in order to benefit readers and researchers in Egypt.
Dr. Mostafa el-Abbadi was born in Cairo in 1928. He obtained a bachelor’s degree in ancient history from Alexandria University in 1951 and a PhD in the same field from Cambridge University in 1960. He started lecturing at Alexandria University in 1961, and he was the Head of the Greco-Roman Archaeology Department from 1973 to 1976. He also lectured at several Arab and international universities throughout his career.
The BA had honored Dr. El-Abbadi on several occasions, most recent of which was a seminar titled “Greek and Latin Writings and Inscriptions: Research Papers Dedicated to Dr. Mostafa el-Abbadi” organized by the Manuscript Center in October 2016. He was also honored at The Alexandria International Conference for Maritime and Underwater Archaeology Conference organized by the BA Alexandria Project in cooperation with the Central Department for Underwater Antiquities (CDUA), Ministry of Antiquities.