Dr. Zahi Hawass was honored to receive the Austrian Grand Decoration of Honor in Silver with Star. This award came as a complete surprise to me but I am very humbled to have been a recipient of one of the highest honors of the Republic of Austria. 

Austrian Grand Decoration of Honor in Silver with Star (Photo: Meghan E. Strong)

The award ceremony and reception were graciously hosted by H.E. Thomas Nader at the Ambassador’s residence in Garden City. It was a beautiful evening and many of my friends, colleagues and staff were in attendance. I was particularly moved by the speeches given by several eminent Egyptologists, who I am lucky to call friends, including: Dr. Manfred Bietak, director of excavations at the Hyksos palace of King Khyan and the palace of Thutmose III in Tell el-Daba; Dr. Ali Radwan, professor of Egyptology at Cairo University and member of the Permanent Committee at the SCA; and Dr. Irene Forstner – Müller, director of the Austrian Archaeological Institute.

Receiving the award from H.E. Thomas Nader, Ambassador of Austria in Egypt (Photo: Meghan E. Strong)

While I was honored to receive this great award, I cannot take credit for all of the advancements that have been made while I have been Secretary General of the SCA. So much great work is being done all over Egypt and it’s thanks to my colleagues at the SCA. We have restored countless Pharaonic, Jewish, Coptic and Islamic monuments, in addition to creating site management plans for sites all over Egypt. We are in the process of building 24 new museums that will provide tourists with access to antiquities from excavations that until now have sat in storage. I think my proudest accomplishment however is the training of 2,000 new SCA archaeologists, conservators and museum professionals. These young people will be the future of the SCA and of Egyptian archaeology! Not only that, they will be better than Zahi Hawass and will be world class competitors in the field of Egyptology.