Art brings 150-year-old Suez Canal launch to life

Описание: (1 Dec 2019) LEAD IN:
Egypt is celebrating 150 years since the opening of the Suez Canal by looking back at the time when it all started.
Paintings documenting the early days of the canal have gone on display, sending people on a journey back in time.

STORY-LINE:
A snip of a ribbon and the exhibition is open.
And the paintings on display are especially significant this year.
Images of the Suez Canal in its earliest days offer a glimpse of what the waterway looked like at its inception.
This year, Egypt is celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Suez Canal, which has long been tied to national pride.
To mark the anniversary, a selection of paintings by French artist Edouard Riou are on display in the coastal city of Alexandria.
The exhibition was put together to teach people "about the history of how the canal was dug and the celebration that was held during its inauguration," says curator Abbas Abu Ghazaleh.
The Suez Canal was launched in a grand ceremony that brought kings and scholars from around the world to Egypt.
The paintings offer a rare window into the past, with one showing the lavish boats that brought monarchs to the Suez Canal.
Another painting documents ships carrying goods from India arriving to dock at the waterway.
Inaugurated in 1869, the Suez Canal connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea, giving maritime traffic between Europe and Asia a shortcut to avoid the long trip around Africa.
The Khedive of Egypt, Ismail Pasha, inaugurated the original canal in a ceremony celebrating the modernization of Egypt.
He used the opportunity to introduce his high-ranking guests to Egypt, by sending them on a tour of the country.
This French artist joined the tour and "painted all the stages of this journey in 40 paintings," Abu Ghazaleh says.
The images present plenty of information about the facets of life at the time, visitor Karim Shabouri says.
"Visitors can see the what the celebration of the inauguration of the Suez Canal was like, what the canal itself looked like, what outfits people wore at the time," Shabouri says.
"It gives a general picture of this era and its main features," Shabouri adds.
But while the inauguration shows the glamorous side of the Suez Canal's history, there is a dark side as well.  
The canal was built using forced labour, with hundreds of thousands of Egyptian peasants drafted into low-wage digging work with hand tools.
Thousands died before the practice was banned and steam-powered excavators took their place.
A French company founded by diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps had begun construction of the canal a decade before its launch, with capital raised by French investors and the Egyptian government.
Egypt later sold its shares to imperial Britain because of a debt crisis.
In 1956, then-President Gamal Abdel-Nasser nationalized the canal from the British and French companies that owned it, a moment cherished by Egyptians as a defiant break from imperialist control.
Egypt fought three wars with Israel around the canal, in 1956, 1967 and 1973 - when Egypt launched a surprise attack across the canal that is now remembered as the country's greatest battlefield victory.
The canal has been repeatedly expanded over the years, from an initial length of 164 kilometres (102 miles) and a depth of 8 meters (26 feet).
The latest expansion brings its length to 193 kilometres and its depth to 24 meters, allowing it to accommodate the world's largest vessels.
The canal is also one of Egypt's biggest foreign currency earners.

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