The preparation for founding the Umm Kulthum Museum began in 1998, and the museum was open to the public in Dec.2001. Umm Kulthum’s role as a pop singer, cultural icon in both the Egyptian community and the Arabic world contributed enormously to the creative phase of Egyptian modern history.
Therefore, it is important to preserve this legendary tradition through collecting Umm Kuhlthum’s music, personal belongings, and related artifacts and to house them in a well established archive center.
In this process, CDF is proud to take the leadership role in supervising and funding the museum. Moreover, in order to enrich the museum collection, CDF is also responsible for collecting lesser -known personal traits and artifacts through countless direct contacts with Umm Kulthum’s family members, hoping to provide with the public a more comprehensive view of Egyptian music during the 20th century.
Located on the Roda island, the Museum, a destination to display and store Umm Kulthum’s items, shares the 250m2 building attached to the Minsterley Palace. Another reason for choosing this location is that it contains the Nile-meter, the second oldest Islamic monument in Cairo and that it is adjacent to the 161 year-old Minsterley Palace (1000m2). The significant importance of this historical area reinforces Umm Kulthum’s
cultural status in Egypt.
The Umm Kulthum Museum
consists of four halls:
The Main Hall:
It displays the collection of her dresses, awards and pendants, five collages of her photos, as well as correspondences and letters.
The Cinema Hall:
It displays a documentary movie commissioned for the opening of
the museum about Umm Kulthum, and the hall seats a maximum of 30 people
The Multimedia Hall:
It consists of a digital archival system with bilingual notes (Arabic and English?) about her life, a complete list of her songs in audio and video formats, as well as a collection of her photos. In addition, there is a collection of archive of newspaper clippings about her from 19242000- and the most important written biography about her.
The Panorama Hall:
It features a 10-minute documentary photos in an artistic way accompanied by well-known
Egyptian composer “Ragh Daood.” Since Sep. 2011, and there is a monthly Saloon held in the museum, beside a bunch of music outreach programs to reach various audience; especially students. In addition, the museum is adapting a new topic in reaching out to the
world by presenting Umm Kulthum Open Daily from 9 am – 4 pm (except for National Days)
Tickets: Ordinary LE 2
Students LE 1
Foreigners LE 6
1 El-Malek El-Saleh street, Manyal, Telfax: 23631467
http://www.facebook.com/museum.ummkulthum – cdf@cdf-eg.org
Egypt Tourism Board 