The BA received a large and significant donation from Heikal’s family, whereby his personal library was transferred to the BA. A team from the BA conducted a simulation of the position of Heikal’s books and library, exactly as they were placed in his Dokki apartment, and helped launch the first exhibition dedicated to the late journalist. The exhibition features approximately 4000 books, including the different editions of Heikal’s publications, as well as other books ranging from literature, arts, and heritage, to politics and economics.
The Exhibition comprises a collection of some of Heikal’s most important personal papers, most notably his birth certificate, family card, a certificate of completion of primary education, a photocopy of his handwritten will, together with a set of his diplomatic and personal passports. The exhibition also includes a group of Heikal’s personal belongings, such as his wristwatch, his ring, and a set of his pens and medals, in addition to a number of his own portraits, and a group of press caricatures drawn for him by the most prominent cartoonists.
The Exhibition also includes an important collection of the renowned journalist’s possessions, including a number of rare historical maps of Egypt, documents handwritten by the late President Gamal Abdel Nasser, drafts of Heikal’s books as well as those of his popular column Bisarahah in Al-Ahram newspaper, in his own handwriting, together with a set of historical daggers, and a collection of his rarest photographs. Heikal’s “Wall of Memories” was also moved to BA, as it displays his meetings with several eminent international figures, such as Guevara, Tito, Khomeini, Khrushchev, Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Indira Gandhi, Yasser Arafat, in addition to his photos with President Nasser and President Anwar Sadat, and his meetings with Umm Kulthum, Mahmoud Fawzy, Tawfik El-Hakim, Abdel Halim Hafez, etc.