Embassies of the Latin American countries, Spain and Portugal to inaugurate the photographic exhibit “Ibero-American Cities” at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina on Tuesday.
The exhibit will witness the participation Embassies of 15 countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Spain, Guatemala, México, Panamá, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Dominican Republic, and Uruguay) showcase iconic photographs of cities and landscapes from their respective countries.
Latin American cities were founded in the ¨Americas¨ by Portugal and Spain. The cities founded in the New World by Iberian colonizers (from Spain and Portugal) were mostly organized around a “plaza”: the religious with their churches, the political with municipal government buildings, the judicial with courthouses, and the military with the barracks.
On this basis, cities developed throughout time in different ways to, form the cities that one may visit today. New buildings constructed by the Europeans sometimes overlap with older indigenous structures, such as those by the Incan or Mayan cultures. All these magnificent buildings show great ethnic and cultural diversity.
This cultural initiative constitutes part of the “Ibero-American Week in Alexandria”, which takes place between 19-28 October. The programme activities include other highlights such as meetings with local authorities and business representatives, academic activities at the university, the Ibero-American Cinema Week, and the digital competition “Campeones Iberoamericanos (“Ibero-American Champions”) in collaboration with the football league LaLiga. These activities aim to promote the diverse cultural identity of the different Ibero-American countries amongst the general public in Alexandria and Egypt.
