Heluan in Egypt is a town located about 20 kilometres from Cairo. In the first half of the 20th century, as a fashionable place for spa treatments, it was the centre of Polish life in Egypt.

On 22 November 2022, a commemorative plaque was unveiled in Heluana, Egypt, dedicated to the memory of Poles resting in the local cemetery. The memorial plaque, installed on the wall of the cemetery chapel, contains the names of the deceased, faithfully reproduced from records in the parish books.

Prominent among those commemorated is the figure of Wanda Bilińska, owner of Villa "Wanda", which was one of the key Polish boarding houses in the town. Wanda, together with her husband Juliusz and daughter Zofia, came to Heluan in 1898 to improve the health of Juliusz, who was struggling with kidney problems. After her husband's death in 1901, Wanda Bilinska decided to stay in Heluan and open a boarding house, which quickly gained notoriety thanks to, among other things, extensive publicity and high standards. By 1909, the facility had grown to 60 rooms, becoming one of the largest and most prestigious spas in the city. Unfortunately, the outbreak of the First World War interrupted this period of prosperity. The boarding house survived, but only occupied a small part of the former complex, and was only leased by Bilińska.

It is worth noting that in 1932 Heluan was visited by Marshal Józef Piłsudski, who stayed at the fashionable guesthouse "Jola", founded by Bogdan Richter and surrounded by a beautiful garden with a variety of plants both local and imported from Poland.

Heluan as a convalescent centre and has witnessed many difficult lives. An example of this is the story of Zofia Rosa Babinska, who died at the age of 26 and was buried in the local cemetery. As the 'Sunday Visitor' reported, her memorial consists of an old altar, donated by the parish church in Heluana, and a statue of Our Lady of Lourdes. A distinctive feature is a symbolic oil painting and a marble slab with an inscription in French dedicated to Zofia Rosa Babinska: Angel of hospitals / Victim of mercy / rests / in the peace of God and prays for us / Zofia Róża Babińska / of Polish nationality // . Her spirituality and self-sacrificing attitude made her tombstone a pilgrimage destination in the interwar period.

During the Second World War, Heluan became a temporary shelter for soldiers of the Polish Armed Forces in the West and for civilian refugees. However, after the Egyptian Revolution in 1952, the town lost its resort character and industrial buildings were built on the site of the former guesthouses.

The Roman Catholic cemetery in Heluana, established in 1887, became the eternal resting place of some 30 Poles. As devastation continued, the remains of the dead were moved to ossuaries and mass graves. The cemetery currently houses a plaque to Konstanty Żmigród (died 1903) and a plaque in memory of Zofia Bobińska. The cemetery falls under the jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Holy Family Church.

The initiative to commemorate Poles in Heluana was realised thanks to the cooperation of the Polonica Institute and the Polish Embassy in Cairo.

The ceremony of unveiling the plaque was attended by Secretary of State at the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage Jarosław Sellin, Polish Ambassador to Egypt Michał Łabenda, Director of the Department of Cultural Heritage Abroad and Places of Remembrance at the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage Jolanta Miśkowiec, Deputy Director of the Department of International Relations at the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage Agnieszka Grunwald, art historian prof. Jan Sienkiewicz, Head of the Analysis and Strategy Department of the National Institute of Polish Cultural Heritage Abroad "Polonika" Michał Michalski, Father Sobhi of the Holy Family Parish in Heluan, a representative of the local authorities of Heluan Sobhi Shafik Khalil, and the President of the Association of Poles in Egypt Ewa Świerczyńska, the Polish Ambassador to Egypt Michał Łabenda, as well as representatives of cultural institutions and the local authorities of Heluan.