This April, a group of Cultivist members embarked on a four-day journey through Cairo's extraordinary art destinations, immersing themselves in a city where ancient wonders and a thriving contemporary art scene exist in remarkable dialogue.

We began at Gypsum Gallery, one of Egypt's premier contemporary art spaces, where we enjoyed a VIP tour guided by artists Nada Baraka and Huda Lutfi. Gaining exclusive insight into their practice and the works defining the cutting edge of the region's creative scene, it was the perfect introduction to Cairo's dynamic cultural moment. A studio visit with multidisciplinary artist Yasmine El Meleegy followed, offering a rare window into a practice that spans sculpture, installation, and archaeology, and whose work has been shown everywhere from the Mattress Factory in Pittsburgh to the Venice Biennale.

A true highlight of the trip was lunch at the home of visionary Egyptian designer Tarek Shamma. His residence — a living expression of his design philosophy — brought together tradition and modernity in a way that felt entirely of this moment.

No visit to Cairo is complete without confronting the ancient world, and we did so that afternoon in extraordinary fashion. A guided tour of the new Grand Egyptian Museum, the largest archaeological museum in the world, gave us privileged early access to treasures spanning 5,000 years of history, including the complete collection of Tutankhamun's possessions.

From there, we were granted special access to the Paws of the Sphinx — an experience reserved for very few — before sitting down to dinner at Khufu's Restaurant on the Giza Plateau watching the sun go down over the pyramids. The most unforgettable moment came after dark when we returned to explore the pyramids in total privacy.

The mornings brought equally enriching encounters, with brunch at the home of art advisor and cultural strategist Mai Eldib. A gallery hop through Zamalek's celebrated "Gallery Circle" followed, with highlights at Tintera Gallery and Ubuntu Gallery.

A favourite for many guests was the visit to the Wissa Wassef School of Weaving, the internationally renowned school and atelier founded in 1952. Watching weavers at work on their extraordinary freehand tapestries was a deeply moving encounter with living craft tradition. Just next door, we stopped by the home and museum of the late Adam Henein, Egypt's greatest modernist sculptor for a fascinating private visit.

The final day took us deep into historic Cairo: a walk along Al-Moez Street, one of the world's great open-air museums of Islamic architecture; lunch at the legendary Naguib Mahfouz restaurant in the heart of Khan el-Khalili, and a visit to Gayer-Anderson House, tucked beside the Mosque of Ibn Tulun.

The trip drew to a close with a farewell dinner at the home of Art D'Égypte patron Nora Al Kholi — a warm, generous evening that captured everything our Cairo journey had been: beautifully hosted, culturally rich, and utterly memorable.

As one member commented: "the trip was fabulous on every level...a truly memorable experience."

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