Speech by Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek to mark the opening of the exhibition Unearthing Ancient Egypt, 18 April 2008
I am pleased to have assumed patronage of this event and consider it an enjoyable duty to deliver a short speech here. I would like to start by thanking everyone who contributed to the organization of this unique exhibition. An exhibition that shows that even a small country like the Czech Republic can play a dignified role in the protection of the world’s cultural heritage. The monuments of ancient Egypt are unquestionably part of the cultural treasure of the whole human race. And Czech Egyptologists play an important part in scientific inquiry into the clues left behind by that great civilization.
The words civilization and culture are increasingly viewed as identifying features of one group in relation to another. As tools for the self-identification of a certain group of inhabitants. That is undoubtedly true when we talk of civilization with a small ‘c’ and culture with a small ‘c’. But today, the talk is of universal values common to all. ‘Civilization’ and ‘Culture’ with a capital ‘C’. Civilization and Culture that do not cause a divide, but provide a link across the ages and the continents. Today’s Czech Republic has little in common with ancient Egypt, it is true. But what binds us is beauty, the desire to create it, seek it out, and protect it. We think differently; our priorities, the organization of the state and our lifestyles have changed. It would be hard to pinpoint anything we agree on. Yet there is one value that we share. We understand beauty. Beauty creates the universal code, a cipher that can be understood without translation. Beauty is the universal language of Civilization with a capital ‘C’. Beauty as the antithesis of barbarianism, the opposite of un-civilization, the intersection of all civilizations with a little ‘c’. Beauty is our guide as we seek to grasp ancient Egypt.
It is my personal opinion that this is the driving force spurring on scientists to uncover Egyptian monuments. I believe that, for them, these beautiful artefacts around us are even more beautiful than for the rest of us. That is why they devote so much effort – much of it thankless – to the discovery of such items. Over the 50 years that the Czech Institute of Egyptology has existed, our small country has fostered a solid reputation in this field. Several generations of top-class Czech scientists deserve many thanks for that. Scientists who prove the universality of ‘Civilization’ in practice. Just as the Czechs discover the beauty of old monuments in distant Egypt, so numerous works of art have originated in our own territory which belong to the world’s cultural treasure. In this respect, I might mention at least the Codex Gigas, the Devil’s Bible, which we recently had the opportunity to view in the Czech Republic. Today I also had the chance to participate in the collection of the Bohemian crown jewels. I do not think it is at all bad that visitors to Prague will be able to see the insignia of Bohemian kings and the treasures of ancient Egypt in a single day. This simple serves to underscore the indivisibility of the one global Civilization and Culture. Beauty is rare and is difficult to discover, which is all the more apparent in archaeology. But it succeeds, as this exhibition convincingly proves. I am sure visitors will appreciate it.
