Queen Matilda of Belgium and Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Brabant, Belgium, arrive at the historic Winter Palace Hotel on the Nile Corniche in Luxor, where Queen Elizabeth stayed during her visit to Egypt in 1923. There are plans to organize archeological and tourist trips in the same areas that the Queen will visit.

Yesterday, Tuesday, the Queen of Belgium opened a temporary exhibition of photographs titled “1923-2023: Queen Elizabeth of Belgium – in Egypt” with the Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Ahmed Essa, at the Baron Empine Palace in Heliopolis. Queen Elizabeth of Belgium and her son Crown Prince Leopold officially opened the tomb of the Golden King Tutankhamun in February 1923 as part of the 100th anniversary of their visit to Egypt.

The exhibition is organized under the auspices of the Royal Palace of Belgium and the Embassy of Belgium in Cairo and in cooperation with the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. Tourism, Amr El-Gadi, CEO of the Egyptian General Authority for Tourism Development Ahmed Ebeid. , Assistant Minister for Affairs in the Minister’s Office Department, Brigadier General Engineer Hisham Sameer, Assistant Minister for Antiquities and Museum Projects and General Supervisor of the Historic Cairo Project, Momen Othman, Head of Museums Department, Supreme Council of Antiquities, Dr. Nashwa Jaber, General Directorate of Permanent Committees and Works at the Supreme Council of Antiquities Supervisor, Counselor Amr Abdullah, General Supervisor of the General Department of International Relations and Agreements in the Ministry, Dr. Basma Selim, Supervisor of the Baron Palace and a businessmen, public and some members of the Belgian Embassy in Cairo were also present.

Ahmed Issa welcomed the Queen of Belgium and the Crown Princess of Brabant at the Baron Empine Palace and delivered a welcome speech during which he expressed his pleasure in welcoming Her Majesty the Queen and Her Royal Highness to Egypt. This magnificent palace “Palace of Baron Empine”, which confirms the Egyptian-Belgian relations between Egypt and Belgium, was built by the Belgian engineer Edward Empine.

Regarding Belgium’s interest in contributing to the project for the restoration of this palace, when the Egyptian government decided to start this project, as a memorandum of understanding was signed between Egypt and Belgium in 2019.