Celebration of the Czech National Day with the opening of the Czech and Nigerian Heroines exhibition

31.10.2023 / 14:28 | Aktualizováno: 07.12.2023 / 10:49

On Thursday, October 26, 2023, a reception was held in the beautiful Nike Art Gallery in Abuja to celebrate the National Day of the Czech Republic. The opening of the exhibition Czech and Nigerian Heroines also took place during the reception. The exhibition was a continuation of the Czech Centers' original Czech Heroines exhibition, which paid tribute to fifty Czech influential women. We supplemented it with fifty portraits of prominent Nigerian personalities of the past and present, thus creating a compact collection of 100 outstanding women of both countries.

The reception was attended by two hundred guests from the diplomatic corps, the parliament, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nigeria, the governments of individual Nigerian states, the business, academic and cultural spheres and, of course, also by several portrayed Heroines or their descendants.

We were very glad to welcome especially the Governor of Kwara State, H.E. AbdulRahmana AbdulRazaq, former Minister of Women's Affairs, Pauline Tallen, Chairman of the Parliamentary Anti-Corruption Commission Hon. Akiola Kayode Moshood, Director of the Department of Non-African States of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Janet Olisu or Her Royal Highness Temitope Enitan-Ogunwunsi, Queen of Ife.

We entrusted the portrait painting to the members of the Female Artists Association of Nigeria. Mama Nike, the owner of Nike Art Gallery, a prominent Nigerian artist and one of the Heroines personally attended the opening. In addition, she prepared a spectacular red carpet welcome for all arriving guests in the form of four dozen dancers and drummers in traditional Yoruba clothing.

The exhibition, which will last until end-November pays tribute not only to the depicted heroines, but also to other exceptional women of both countries. It brings to mind the importance of the issue of equal opportunities, which is still a very sensitive topic, especially in some areas of Nigeria.