Egypt
The Times (Matthew Campbell)
- In The Pharaohs' Footsteps
Al Ahram Weekly With photos. Inspection of the last phase of the Avenue of the Sphinxes development project and the discovery of the missing parts of the colossal double statue of the 18th-Dynasty Pharaoh Amenhotep III and his wife Queen Tiye, now on...
- More Re Avenue Of Sphinxes, Luxor
Earth Times With a good b&w photograph of what the avenue of sphinxes looked before building started to buiilt around it. An ancient sphinx-lined avenue that once connected two of Egypt's grandest temples will open to the public this month -...
- More Re Avenue Of Sphinxes, Luxor
Al Ahram Weekly (Nevine El-Aref) The magnificent aspect of the Avenue of Sphinxes that once connected the temples of Luxor and Karnak, where priests, royalty and the pious walked in procession to celebrate the Opet festival, is being rekindled. Many of...
- More Re Qurna Relocation
http://www.egypttoday.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=7166A lengthy article about the relocation of the inhabitants of Qurna on the West Bank at Luxor, in order to provide access to archaeological sites. It repeats much of what has already been said, emphasising...
- The Avenue Of Mice
This is a report critical of the restoration of the avenue of sphinxes by the Supreme council of antiquities. The avenue restoration has caused evictions of people living in homes on top of the avenue. The residents have been offered new homes built far...
Egypt
More re the Avenue of Sphinxes in Luxor
The Times (Matthew Campbell)
Visitors will have the chance to stroll under the imperious gaze of the sphinxes — mythological creatures with the body of a lion and head of a human or ram.
The remainder of the buried avenue, 75 yards wide and flanked originally by an estimated 1,350 sphinxes, will be opened in the next few years.
“It is the longest processional avenue in the world,” said Jihane Zaki, a government Egyptologist. Its restoration, he said, would return “dignity and glory” to Luxor, in what was once the ancient city of Thebes.
Controversy has surrounded the project, not least because of the speed of the excavation in which bulldozers have cut a 100-yard trench through some of the densely populated districts of Luxor.
Foreign archeologists say historical buildings have been demolished to make way for a lucrative new attraction.
“The whole thing is a disgrace,” said an American archeologist, who declined to be named because of fears of reprisals from Egyptian officials. “The work is being done in a big rush to get the place ready for tourism. Several very special buildings have been destroyed on purpose. They’re murdering the soul of the place.”
The dispute has drawn in Unesco, which has responsibility for world heritage sites such as the Luxor and Karnak temples at each end of the avenue.
- In The Pharaohs' Footsteps
Al Ahram Weekly With photos. Inspection of the last phase of the Avenue of the Sphinxes development project and the discovery of the missing parts of the colossal double statue of the 18th-Dynasty Pharaoh Amenhotep III and his wife Queen Tiye, now on...
- More Re Avenue Of Sphinxes, Luxor
Earth Times With a good b&w photograph of what the avenue of sphinxes looked before building started to buiilt around it. An ancient sphinx-lined avenue that once connected two of Egypt's grandest temples will open to the public this month -...
- More Re Avenue Of Sphinxes, Luxor
Al Ahram Weekly (Nevine El-Aref) The magnificent aspect of the Avenue of Sphinxes that once connected the temples of Luxor and Karnak, where priests, royalty and the pious walked in procession to celebrate the Opet festival, is being rekindled. Many of...
- More Re Qurna Relocation
http://www.egypttoday.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=7166A lengthy article about the relocation of the inhabitants of Qurna on the West Bank at Luxor, in order to provide access to archaeological sites. It repeats much of what has already been said, emphasising...
- The Avenue Of Mice
This is a report critical of the restoration of the avenue of sphinxes by the Supreme council of antiquities. The avenue restoration has caused evictions of people living in homes on top of the avenue. The residents have been offered new homes built far...