Egypt
Reuters UK (Alexander Dziadosz)
- Egypt's Plans For Luxor: Vegas On The Nile?
Time (Abigail Hauslohner) Luxor has long been Egypt's prize possession. It was here that the ancient Egyptians at one time built their capital of Thebes; where Pharoahs dedicated massive temples to their gods; and where Howard Carter unearthed the...
- All Change In Luxor
Al Ahram Weekly A rather sad letter to the newspaper Al Ahram Weekly, by Luxor resident Gordon Davies. Five years ago, a tall wall started to be built throughout Luxor, stretching as far as Karnak. Little by little parks disappeared and two years ago...
- The Development Plan For Luxor
Al-Ahram (Jill Kamil) The width of the Nile Corniche boulevard in Luxor is to double as part of a development plan that is now steaming ahead at full speed. Egyptologists and concerned Luxor residents regard it as a terrible loss of historical 19th-century...
- More Evictions At Qurna
International Herald Tribune Almost 60 mud brick houses were demolished Sunday near tombs in the ancient Egyptian city of Luxor after security forces used tear gas to force out residents, according to inhabitants. For the past half century, local authorities...
- Luxor's Resurrection
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/846/eg5.htm Nevine el-Aref reports on Mrs Suzanne Mubarak's visit to Luxor, during which she inaugurated a branch of the Mubarak Public Library and opened a Nubian Cultural Centre: "Luxor is often described as the world's...
Egypt
More re overhaul of Luxor
Reuters UK (Alexander Dziadosz)
LUXOR, Egypt (Reuters) - In the dusty streets behind the pasha's grand villa, bulldozers and forklifts are tearing into the city where Agatha Christie found inspiration and Howard Carter unearthed Tutankhamun.
Egypt has already cleared out Luxor's old bazaar, demolished thousands of homes and dozens of Belle Epoque buildings in a push to transform the site of the ancient capital Thebes into a huge open-air museum.
Officials say the project will preserve temples and draw more tourists, but the work has outraged archaeologists and architects who say it has gutted Luxor's more recent heritage.
"They basically want to tear the whole thing down," said one foreigner who lives in Luxor part of the year, agreeing to speak only if his name was not used.
"They want it to be all asphalt and strip malls and shopping centres. That's their idea of modern and progressive."
He pointed to the destruction of the 19th-century house of French archaeologist Georges Legrain, demolished to make way for a plaza outside Karnak temple, and plans to knock down the 150-year-old Pasha Andraos villa on the Nile boardwalk.
While known mostly for temples and tombs, Luxor's Victorian-era buildings and dusty alleyways have drawn Egyptologists, statesmen and writers for decades.
- Egypt's Plans For Luxor: Vegas On The Nile?
Time (Abigail Hauslohner) Luxor has long been Egypt's prize possession. It was here that the ancient Egyptians at one time built their capital of Thebes; where Pharoahs dedicated massive temples to their gods; and where Howard Carter unearthed the...
- All Change In Luxor
Al Ahram Weekly A rather sad letter to the newspaper Al Ahram Weekly, by Luxor resident Gordon Davies. Five years ago, a tall wall started to be built throughout Luxor, stretching as far as Karnak. Little by little parks disappeared and two years ago...
- The Development Plan For Luxor
Al-Ahram (Jill Kamil) The width of the Nile Corniche boulevard in Luxor is to double as part of a development plan that is now steaming ahead at full speed. Egyptologists and concerned Luxor residents regard it as a terrible loss of historical 19th-century...
- More Evictions At Qurna
International Herald Tribune Almost 60 mud brick houses were demolished Sunday near tombs in the ancient Egyptian city of Luxor after security forces used tear gas to force out residents, according to inhabitants. For the past half century, local authorities...
- Luxor's Resurrection
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/846/eg5.htm Nevine el-Aref reports on Mrs Suzanne Mubarak's visit to Luxor, during which she inaugurated a branch of the Mubarak Public Library and opened a Nubian Cultural Centre: "Luxor is often described as the world's...