The Culture of Egypt has five thousand years of recorded history. Ancient Egypt was among the earliest civilizations. For millennia, Egypt maintained a strikingly complex and stable culture that had a profound influence on later cultures of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. After the Pharonic era, Egypt itself came under the influence of Hellenism, for a time Christianity, and later, Arab and Islamic culture. Today, many aspects of Egypt’s ancient culture exist in interaction with newer elements, including the influence of modern Western culture, itself with roots in Ancient Egypt.

With its ancient history, cosmopolitanism, strong Islamic traditions, modern pan-Arab political and intellectual history and relative freedom, Egypt is the cultural capital of Arab world. The Arab television and cinema is dominated by the Egyptian television and film industry, as is popular Arabic music.

The Egyptian Ministry of Culture presides over a variety of western-style cultural institutions such as the Cairo Opera House, the National Puppet Theater, the Pocket Theater and the National Symphony, as well as the country’s many museums.

Egypt has also been a fount of Arabic literature having produced some of the greatest 20th century Arab writers from Taha Hussein and Tawfiq Al Hakim to Nobel prize-winner novelist Naguib Mahfouz. Egypt has also produced some of the greatest modern artisans, including the brilliant jewelry designer Azza Fahmy and her equally gifted sister Randa Fahmy, who single-handedly revived the art of Mamluki metalwork.