On Tuesday October 11, 2022, HRH Prince Turki AlFaisal, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies (KFCRIS) inaugurated the photography exhibition in Poland to commemorate the 90th anniversary of King Faisal's visit to Poland in 1932, in the presence of Professor Jacek Popiel, the Rector of Jagiellonian University and a number of officials, diplomats, intellectuals and experts from various cultural fields and media.

Through the cooperation between KFCRIS and Jagiellonian University, the exhibition will be held at the campus of Jagiellonian University in Krakow until 21 October. This important exhibition commemorates King Faisal’s visit to Poland on May 27, 1932, where he was received by Poland’s Marshal Jozef Pilsudski and President Ignacy Mościcki, also showcasing photos that emphasize the depth of the bilateral relationship between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Poland.

In the conference that took place with the launch of the exhibition, Professor Jacek Popiel, the Rector of Jagiellonian University, provided a welcoming speech, expressing the depth of the bilateral relationship between the two countries, with Poland being one of the major trading partners of Saudi Arabia.

HRH Prince Turki AlFaisal in his opening speech emphasized that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Poland share the earnest desire to develop the relations between the two countries, and to enhance the joint efforts to achive growth and prosperity for people in both countries, as well as in the Arab and European communities. HRH said: “The greatest duties of the institutions concerned with research, intellectual activity, and culture, are to make the world a welcoming place for decent life replete with hope for everyone.” HRH called for concerted efforts between the Institute of Oriental Studies at Jagiellonian University and KFCRIS, as well as research centers, universities, and other research bodies both in Saudi Arabia and Poland, to enhance the exchange of knowledge, improve scientific research in these institutions, and achieve research goals in the two countries.

He also stressed that KFCRIS welcomes cooperation with Arab Studies departments in Polish universities and provides necessary assistance, and that both parties are responsible for effective coordination and implementation of the desired cultural exchange.  He also suggested that the encounter of Arab and Polish minds may serves as an example to be emulated for other cultural cooperation arrangements in the near future.

Speeches were also delivered by Professor Abdullah Al Rabeeah, Saad bin Saleh Al Saleh (the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the Republic of Poland), Professor Haza bin Bakr bin Mulawwah Al-Qahtani (a member of the Shura Council and the Saudi-Polish Parliamentary Friendship Committee), and Professor Barbara Michalak-Pikulska (Head of the Department of Arabic Studies at Jagiellonian University). Professor Usama Al-Sanousi, a former Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to Poland, provided closing remarks.

KFCRIS signed a memorandum of cooperation (MoC) with the Jagiellonian Library in Poland. In the signing of the MoC, the KFCRIS was represented by its Assistant to the Secretary-General, Mr. Ibrahim Aldeghaither, and the Jagiellonian Library was represented by its Director, Professor Remigiusz Sapa. The MoC aims to enhance the cooperation between the two organizations in research and advisory services, and to exchange expertise in areas related to their activities, especially academic and practical expertise in the field of librarianship such as indexing and classification, methods of preservation, documentation of acquisitions, and contribution to the transfer of technical and professional knowledge.