The opening of the exhibition, organized by the National Foundation of Museums (FNM) and the National Archaeological Museum of Madrid, took place in the presence of the Spanish Minister of Culture and Sports, Miquel Iceta, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Global Affairs, Angeles Moreno, the director of the National Archaeological Museum, Andres Carretero, the president of Spanish Cultural Action, Jose Andres Torres Mora and Spain's Ambassador to Morocco, Ricardo Díez-Hochleitner.
On the Moroccan side, the event was attended by Morocco's ambassador to Spain, Karima Benyaich, the president of the FNM, Mehdi Qotbi, and the director of the Mohammed VI Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMVI), Abdelaziz El Idrissi, curator of the exhibition.
Held under the High Patronage of HM King Mohammed VI and HM King Felipe VI of Spain, the exhibition highlights the historical component and the legacy of the ancestral partnership between the two kingdoms through works and artifacts that are exhibited for the first time.
The exhibition, open to the public until October 16, 2022, brings together a rich and diverse selection of 335 objects and cultural artifacts - including items from the collections of the FNM, the National Archaeological Museum of Madrid and the Museo Nacional del Prado.
Through six major thematic interlinked parts, the exhibition invites visitors to discover the evolution of relations between the two countries. Then, if offers a journey through the cultural and religious context from Phoenician and Punic colonization to the Roman Empire and the Islamic expansion.
The exhibition highlights the neighborly ties between Morocco and Spain and reveals the millennial and joint history between the two kingdoms separated by the Mediterranean Sea and located on the ends of the Strait of Gibraltar. It is also an opportunity to discuss the scientific collaboration between Morocco and Spain in the field of archaeology.