Sixth Edition of Cairo Int’l Forum for Arabic Calligraphy Celebrates the Pioneers

Artwork by Mohammed Al-Arabi. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Artwork by Mohammed Al-Arabi. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Sixth Edition of Cairo Int’l Forum for Arabic Calligraphy Celebrates the Pioneers

Artwork by Mohammed Al-Arabi. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Artwork by Mohammed Al-Arabi. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

The sixth edition of the Cairo International Forum for the Art of Arabic Calligraphy is celebrating pioneers in the field.

These pioneers have laid the technical foundations of this art form in several Arab and foreign countries.

“Teach by the Pen” is organized by the Cultural Development Fund of the Ministry of Culture, in partnership with the Egyptian Association for Arabic Calligraphy, the Fine Arts Sector and the Foreign Cultural Relations Sector.

Held at the Palace of Arts, it will run from June 1-7.

At total of 153 artists from 18 countries, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Jordan, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Syria, Yemen, China, Indonesia, Italy, Poland, the United Kingdom, Malaysia, Tanzania, Lebanon and Egypt will participate in the forum. This year’s event will feature workshops, scientific seminars, documentaries and art exhibitions.

The forum bears the name of the great Arabic calligrapher Yusuf Ahmed, who is considered among the pioneers of Kufic calligraphy in the modern era.

A documentary film dedicated to his lifelong contributions to calligraphy will be screened, and his paintings will be exhibited. The forum will also honor Emirati calligrapher Fatima Al-Baqali, Jordanian calligrapher Ibrahim Abu Touq and Egyptian artists Ahmed Al-Masry and Mustafa Al-Omari.



Customers at this Starbucks Can Sip Coffee and Observe a Quiet North Korean Village

Visitors at a newly opened Starbucks store as North Korea’s Kaephung county is seen in the background at the observatory of the Aegibong Peace Ecopark in Gimpo, South Korea, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Visitors at a newly opened Starbucks store as North Korea’s Kaephung county is seen in the background at the observatory of the Aegibong Peace Ecopark in Gimpo, South Korea, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
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Customers at this Starbucks Can Sip Coffee and Observe a Quiet North Korean Village

Visitors at a newly opened Starbucks store as North Korea’s Kaephung county is seen in the background at the observatory of the Aegibong Peace Ecopark in Gimpo, South Korea, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Visitors at a newly opened Starbucks store as North Korea’s Kaephung county is seen in the background at the observatory of the Aegibong Peace Ecopark in Gimpo, South Korea, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Coffee drinkers can sip their beverages and view a quiet North Korean mountain village from a new Starbucks at a South Korean border observatory.
Customers have to pass a military checkpoint before entering the observatory at Aegibong Peace Ecopark, which is less than a mile from North Korean territory and overlooks North Korea’s Songaksan mountain and a nearby village in Kaephung county, The Associated Press said.
The tables and windows face North Korea at the Starbucks, where about 40 people, a few of them foreigners, came to the opening Friday.
The South Korean city of Gimpo said hosting Starbucks was part of efforts to develop its border facilities as a tourist destination and said the shop symbolizes “robust security on the Korean Peninsula through the presence of this iconic capitalist brand.”
The observatory is the key facility at Aegibong park, which was built on a hill that was a fierce battle site during the 1950-53 Korean War. The park also has gardens, exhibition and conference halls and a war memorial dedicated to fallen marines.
Gimpo and other South Korean border cities like Paju have been trying to develop their border sites as tourist assets, even as tensions grow between the war-divided Koreas.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been trying to raise pressure on South Korea and threatening to attack his rival with nuclear weapons if provoked. North Korea has also engaged in psychological and electronic warfare against South Korea, such as flying trash-laden balloons into the South and disrupting GPS signals from border areas near the South’s biggest airport.
Kaephung county is believed to be one of the possible sites from where North Korea has launched thousands of balloons over several months.
South Korea’s military said Friday that the North flew dozens more balloons overnight and that some trash and leaflets landed around the capital Seoul and nearby Gyeonggi province.