Ahmed Shawki Museum 3.44

Ahmed Shawki Museum is a writer's house museum dedicated to the poet and dramatist Ahmed Shawki (1869–1932).LocationIt is located on the Nile Corniche, Giza part of Cairo, Egypt.HistoryThe museum is named after and dedicated to the poet and dramatist Ahmed Shawki (1869–1932), who used to live in ‘Karmet Ibn Hani’ or Ibn Hani’s Vineyardin كرمة ابن هانىء at Al-Matariyyah area near the palace of the Khedive Abbas II at Saray El-Qobba until he was exiled. After returning to Egypt, he built a new house at Giza which he named the new Karmet Ibn Hani. The Giza house later on became Ahmed Shawki Museum. It was first acquired in 1914 and named ‘Karmet Ibn Hani’ or Ibn Hani’s Vineyard, after the poet Abu Nawwas. It takes the form of a lavish white palace surrounded by a green garden and officially opened on 17 June 1977.ExteriorThe museum is noted for its bronze statues. In the garden, there is a large statue of the poet, created by late Egyptian sculptor Gamal El-Sagini. The statue was erected in a ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of the poet's death. It is however a replica, as the Italian Government ordered in 1962 that it be erected in the Borghese Park, Rome, alongside the statues of other world artistic figures. The ceremony was attended by the Egyptian and Italian Ministers of Culture, the Mayor of Rome, and many Arab artists, poets, and writers. There are also bronze statues of torch-bearing cherubic messengers. The torches represent enlightenment.