Egypt up-to-date

Luxor and Westbank in transformation

Luxor:
Whoever did not visit Luxor and Westbank for a longer time will not recognize both of them anymore. Luxor is getting a facelift, it is being constantly modernized. The streets are newly equipped and widened; there have been rebuild modern houses from scratch and the bazaar has been also rearranged. For this reason families had to be resettled of course. According to all accounts, they get an appropriate compensation and alternative residential properties have been made available. Anyway it is quite painful for these families, because some of them lived in the old houses for generations. At present the largest building site is probably to be found at the Luxor temple, because the old avenue between the Karnak temple and the Luxor temple is being rebuilt. Therefore old building existence also had to be sacrificed. Thus everything is in the change for the people, who come to visit the places of interest in Luxor.

Westbank:
The same happens also on Westbank. Old building existence must yield; humans are being resettled and compensated for abandoning their houses. The small village Gezira is being transformed. However nobody knows exactly, what it is going to look like, since there are no published plans. But one can see already into which direction it is developing: Generously arranged places arise, a new road along the Nile bank is supposed to be developed. The beginning is already made. The houses along the road beside the Nile which leads towards the village are already torn off; only the Nile Valley hotel remained spared.

The large parking lot for the taxis has turned into a modern building with a huge supermarket, that has been opened recently and with restaurants, which already offer their meals and beverages. The small lake at the roadside is being filled up, whereas nobody knows exactly why. Assumptions are that the soccer field is to be moved there. But details are unknown, one can only be curious, where the development is heading to.

El Qurna:
El Qurna is well-known and notorious since forever as a grave robber city. Many houses are built over hidden entrances to the graves of the sublime people. Some families achieved some prosperity by illegal excavations and sales. One of the most well-known families is the one of the grave robber and antiques dealer Ali Abd ar-Rassul. They subsist on partly legal, partly illegal trade with old-Egyptian artifacts for centuries. In order to work against further illegal illicit excavations, the inhabitants were resettled into the new village Al-Qurna-gedida (new Qurna) since 2006. But these illicit excavations are surely not the only reason. The Süddeutsche Zeitung reported already in January 2007 that the Egyptian government wants to transform the city of Luxor including the dead city into the largest, most beautiful and cleanest open air museum of the world.

(Text and photo: Peter Hucke)

The New Winter Palace hotel in Luxor is being rearranged completely

The New Winter Palace hotel was built 46 years ago. The modern box-like building always formed a strange contrast to the antique Old Winter Palace. In the course of the renewal of the entire city area of Luxor, the New Winter Palace hotel is being rebuilt completely, in order to embellish the townscape of Luxor. Therefore among other things the upper floors of the hotel are being completely removed. The height of the building is adapted to that of the Old Winter Palace hotel. After completion the New Winter Palace as well as the Winter Palace pavilion and the Old Winter Palace is to offer its customers hospitality in perfect combination with elegance and tradition. During the renovation work the Old Winter Palace and the Winter Palace pavilion remain opened.