The decline and subsequent disappearance of the pharaonic civilisation dealt a serious blow to Luxor. Previously cared-for and revered monuments, which had been the exclusive domain of the highest dignitaries and priests serving omnipotent gods, now provided shelter for crude brick houses belonging to anyone who came along. Only the high, thick temple walls were able to afford effective protection against the bandits of the time. In the earliest centuries of the Christian era, followers of the new faith built their churches within the confines of what had been sacred spaces for Egyptians at the time of the pharaohs. In temples such as those at Luxor and Karnak engraved crosses are still visible. Luxor was of no interest to the Arab armies arriving to spread the faith of Islam. Muslim leaders founded the city of Cairo and the splendour of Islamic civilisation developed hundreds of kilometres to the north of the former capital.
When Europeans rediscovered the pharaonic civilisation, as Napoleon did on a military expedition at the end of the eighteenth century bringing back the first ornaments in his luggage, Luxor was a city asleep. Drawings and watercolours of the period illustrate this. The temples are depicted filled with sand and flocks of domestic animals wander among columns buried up to their capitols in the ground. Europe was, however, being gripped at the time by Egyptomania and Orientalism. La Description de l’Egypte, a description of Egypt compiled by scholars accompanying Napoleon’s armies, was written as a result. Exhibitions of antique objects, jewellery and mummies were common. From the second half of the nineteenth century, Luxor became a destination for tourists, but only for a sufficiently wealthy handful.
When Europeans rediscovered the pharaonic civilisation, as Napoleon did on a military expedition at the end of the eighteenth century bringing back the first ornaments in his luggage, Luxor was a city asleep. Drawings and watercolours of the period illustrate this. The temples are depicted filled with sand and flocks of domestic animals wander among columns buried up to their capitols in the ground. Europe was, however, being gripped at the time by Egyptomania and Orientalism. La Description de l’Egypte, a description of Egypt compiled by scholars accompanying Napoleon’s armies, was written as a result. Exhibitions of antique objects, jewellery and mummies were common. From the second half of the nineteenth century, Luxor became a destination for tourists, but only for a sufficiently wealthy handful.
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