Om El Donia Statue in Port Said

View of the large bronze statue of Om El Donia (“Mother of the World”), in the newly opened so-called ‘Egypt Square’ in the northern coastal city of Port Said.

Om El Donia statue is a contemporary piece representing Egypt’s Pharaonic age and featuring Ptolemaic influence. Sculpted by Egyptian artist Essam Darwish. At this present time, it is considered to be the largest bronze work of art in Egypt’s modern history.

Darwish praised the spirit that he encounters when designing artworks in Port Said, stressing that the people of Port Said enjoy a high artistic taste and love art because of the spirit they carry that loves beauty. 

He designed the statue of the entrance to the Suez Canal, where he stressed that the idea of creating the statue focused on expressing Egypt because the area in which it will be established is international, as ships from all over the world cross it.

He added that the choice fell in the end for the statue to be in the form of a woman as women are a symbol of sacrifice and giving, citing artworks that called for sculpture in the world and that women were always chosen as a symbol of nations such as the Statue of Liberty in the in New York City in the United States.

Darwish also said that the ores of the statue are bronze. He chose bronze because it lives for longer periods, pointing out that in contrast, it was erected at a height of 10 meters, which is the highest height of a statue in Port Said and the largest bronze work of art in Egypt. He pointed out that the base of the statue is made of granite, which is a kind of durable materials of value, which adds value to the statue and preserves it.