A highly special event attracted over a hundred invitees of the El Gouna community to the El Gouna Library.
No one else than the world-renowned archeologist and Secretary General of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities Dr. Zahi Hawass introduced on April 16 in this affiliate of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina his latest book.
The work, entitled A Secret Voyage, chronicles stories and tales of the years Hawass has spent both above and under the ground, and it is published by Heritage World Press and distributed by the American University in Cairo (AUC) Press. Mark Linz, director of the AUC Press, opened the unveiling event with a welcome speech.
A Secret Voyage is 400 pages long, contains 166 high resolution images, measures 50 by 35 centimeters, and weighs 10 kilograms. The illustrations and pictures in the book are from Sandro Vannini, an internationallyacclaimed Italian photographer.
A limited edition of 750 copies is signed by the author and hand-bound by Italian craftsmen. It comes in a black silk cover and clam shell box with a price tag of 22,000 LE (4,400 USD).
The publishing of A Secret Voyage had been celebrated by similar events in London, Hamburg, and Cairo, and after the El Gouna presentation it went on to be introduced in New York City. Hawass confided that he plans to give the fi rst signed copy to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, the second to United States President Barack Obama, and that other copies have been set aside for European monarchs whom he considers personal friends. At the time of the El Gouna unveiling, orders for the book had been placed by 20 collectors in Egypt and over 200 internationally.
With the presentation an exhibition in the El Gouna Library, with the display of the book and poster-sized photographs from the book, remained open in El Gouna until May 2, when it was taken on tour to Luxor and Cairo.
El Gouna Library is the primary branch of the renowned Bibliotheca Alexandrina and has online resources of over 150,000 digitized rare books and manuscript collections. The library features a main reading room, private study rooms (equipped with PCs), an outdoor courtyard with reading booths and a cafeteria. Being home to one of six Culturama in Egypt, El Gouna library welcomes guests to unravel the mystery of Egypt's history in no less than 65 minutes.

On the picture from left to right: AUC Press Director Marc Linz, Mr. Samih Sawiris, chairman of Orascom Hotels and Development, Dr. Zahi Hawass and Mr. Christophe Lambrecht, COO The Three Corners Company