Aida Mary Jane Phillips-Matz argues that the source is actually Temistocle Solera. Isma'il Pasha, Khedive of Egypt, commissioned Verdi to write an opera for performance to celebrate the opening of the Khedivial Opera House, paying him 150,000 francs, but the premiere was delayed because of the Siege of Paris (1870–71), during the Franco-Prussian War, when the scenery and costumes were stuck in the French capital, and Verdi's "Rigoletto" was performed instead. "Aida" eventually premiered in Cairo in late 1871. Contrary to popular belief, the opera was not written to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, for which Verdi
Suez Canal Area Development Project presidential elections. In 2013, Prime Minister Hesham Qandil began studying the project and announced that the government would begin to plan for the project. The New Suez Canal ( "") is the name of an artificial waterway project in Egypt which created a second shipping lane along part of the Suez Canal. Also, other parts of the Suez Canal were deepened and widened. The project was inaugurated by the Chairman of the Suez Canal Authority Mohab Mamish in the presence of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on 5 August 2014.. The new canal was opened one year later in a