Luxor residents evicted for tourism

Andrew Bossone

Sun, 22/11/2009 - 17:14

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A local woman tries to make her way through the dust as buildings off Karnak Street are torn down.

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Residents will be evacuated around the main tourist areas, according to the government and a billboard behind Luxor Temple.

Photographed by Andrew Bossone

Many evicted residents will relocate to a reclaimed desert area in el-Tob about 30 kilometers from the center of Luxor. Most of the area has not yet been built.

Photographed by Andrew Bossone

Buildings on the East Bank are coming down every day as owners await compensation and a new place to live.

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The Sphinx Road will connect Luxor and Karnak Temples as it did in antiquity, except now it will be the main route for tourist buses.

Photographed by Andrew Bossone

A three-year-old girl living along the ancient Avenue of the Sphinxes, whose home was demolished.

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Houses along the ancient Avenue of the Sphinxes are being demolished as part of a larger plan to expand tourism, as children walk among the rubble of their former home near the Mut Temple.

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Residents near Karnak Temple collect bricks and other items as their homes are demolished.

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Workers manually dismantle one of the Belle Epoque buildings around the medieval tell near Luxor Temple.

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The Egypt government is currently demolishing homes in a plan to turn Luxor into an archaeological tourist haven. Residents living between Luxor and Karnak Temples–along the "Avenue of the Sphinxes"–have recently been given three-day eviction notices as heavy machinery is quickly tearing down buildings six days a week.

"It is our philosophy now to evacuate the whole city here, between the two temples (Luxor and Karnak) to an area west of the railway line," said General Samir Farag, the governor of Luxor, during an interview with Al-Masry Al-Youm English Edition in late October.

Residents say it is not clear how much they will receive for their homes; compensation varies from about LE40,000 to LE60,000, according to several interviews.

"They take everything, remove all homes here [near] the Nile," said Mustafa Lofi, whose sisters' house was slated for demolition today. "No buildings over the Nile. Why? People who come from abroad [bring] the money for antiquities."