The west bank of Thebes was developed later than the city itself. The 11th Antef dynasty built little more than a small temple on the mountainside, and it wasn't until Hatshepsut and the 18th dynasty that funerary temples and the Valley of the Kings were created. After the Queen, great builders such as Amenopis III, Seti I, Ramses II and Ramses III left their temples to posterity. The west bank of Thebes was not used after the 19th Dynasty.The village of Gourna, which had spread out there, had existed since the dawn of time: wasn't it then called the "village of craftsmen", the same one whose tombs we visit today in the eponymous valley? For centuries, a few scattered houses were built along the western bank of the Nile, but it was more recent canal development and archaeological excavations, followed by an influx of tourists, that brought the human presence to this bank, where previously there were only millennia-old ruins....Visitors such as Hadrian, the emperor, traditionally came to hear the song of Memnon, when, in the early morning, the heat of the rising sun made the blocks of monumental statues of Amenophis III crunch. Marguerite Yourcenar, who didn't come to Egypt until the end of her life, always found the Ramesseum, the temple of Ramses II, to be the most romantic temple she knew.The village of Gourna, with the development of tourism, had expanded - too much, no doubt - and the houses located on the site of the Valley of the Nobles, alongside the temple of Seti I, and in other places, were in the way. The inhabitants were evicted and relocated a little further downstream, in the city of New Gourna, which you pass as you leave the public ferry. Only the alabaster workers were allowed to keep their stores in situ. The few dilapidated houses you see perched on the necropolis itself are the last vestiges of "Old Gourna".Gourna is also Hassan Fathi's village, built in adobe in the style that the visionary architect wanted to infuse into the riverbank, but - for no man is a prophet in his own country - concrete has risen from the earth. All that remains of Hassan Fathi's dream are the mosque, the theater and the school, to the north of the main road leading to the colossi of Amenhotep III.Gourna is also the bank that aesthetes choose when they live in Luxor. Over the past fifteen years or so, traditional houses have been converted into guest houses, while from the desert has risen La Moudira, the most beautiful palace in Egypt.

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Deir el-Bahari, le temple de la reine Hatchepsout. Author's Image
Vallée des rois. Author's Image
Temple d'Hatchepsout (Deir el-Bahari). Sylvain GRANDADAM
Deir el-Bahari, le temple de la reine Hatchepsout. Author's Image
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