Thebes Off The Beaten Path

It was natural to see mosques in each city and big settlements because the Islam is the state religion of Egypt and it profess about 93 % of the population (about 7 % of the population of Egypt are orthodox Copts). The mosque is a cult building of Moslems. The herald - muedzin - calls for fulfillment of a pray.

Earlier this appeal was disclosed from a minaret. Now loudspeakers as a rule are established on minarets. We saw one of such mosques with a beautiful minaret near to Deir el-Bahri. In comparison with antiquities of West Thebes this mosque seemed almost new and modern.

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I have understood that the basis of tourist business for local population is producing and saling of souvenirs on themes of ancient Egypt. We have visited with excursion one of numerous workshops where subjects of art are producing. As examples for manufacture they take images of ancient artifacts and reach good similarity. The quality of these hand-made things as a rule is not very high. However the price suits quality.

Nevertheless work of local masters causes respect. I paid attention to tools by means of which they were making nephrite figures. Tools are certainly modern, made in steel. Therefore masters worked quickly and qualitatively. I felt a pity for ancient masters who had no such tools but as it is considered they were creating art masterpieces.

The western bank of the Nile represents the lifeless mountain desert on the distance of several kilometers from the river. It would seem impossible to live in such conditions. However tiny villages which consist of several tens houses without roofs are located on the slopes of the Theban Hills.

It is hard to imagine conditions which people live there! It is difficult to understand how they earn for life. They were engaged in agriculture during centuries. Now they are fed with tourist business last decades.