Naguib Mahfouz Museum will be opened at Pashtak Palace in Cairo's Gammaliya district on his birthday; December 11, Culture Minister Abdel Wahed Al Nabawi said late Monday.

At a ceremony held to mark the anniversary of the death of the Noble laureate novelist, Nabawi said the idea of establishing Naguib Mahfouz Museum was linked, for a few years now, to the home of Mohamed Beik Abu Al Dahab, but now was relocated to Pashtak Palace.

The event included an exhibition on posters of the movies that depended on Mahfouz's works and a book fair grouping all production items that dwelt on the biography and works of the late novelist.

The ceremony was attended by his daughter Hoda Naguib Mahfouz, senior Culture Ministry officials and a number of Egyptian artists, novelists and intellectuals.

Mahfouz won the 1988 Nobel Prize for Literature. He is regarded as one of the first contemporary writers of Arabic literature, along with Tawfiq el-Hakim, to explore themes of existentialism. Many of his works have been made into Egyptian and foreign films.

Source: MENA