Comprising four interconnected nogou' (hamlets) — Al-Hurubat, Atiyat, Al-Ghabat, Al-Hasasna — the village conglomerate of Gurna is the most densely populated part of the west bank of the Nile in Luxor — the site of the Theban necropolis. And evacuating it has proved to be a major undertaking, second only to evacuating Nubia prior to its submersion in Lake Nasser in the course of building the Aswan High Dam. Two weeks after the "celebrations" broadcast on satellite television — pretty girls in ancient Egyptian outfits dancing around while the mud brick houses were being bulldozed into oblivion — villagers like Mohamed El-Tayib, a tour guide, are voicing discontent: "you think these girls are from Gurna? Well, they're from Luxor. The celebration a show put on by others — nothing to do with Gurna or its people..."

While the move was being planned, indeed, incipient meetings had excluded all but the most affluent villagers, as El-Tayib explained, who could afford houses bigger than the 150 sq m units provided to each family in Al-Taref (or New Gurna, five kilometres away). This was the main complaint: in Upper Egypt large, often extended, families will normally occupy a single space, and Gurna villagers are concerned that, with up to seven children (not to mention grandchildren) in each family, a 150 sq m space would not be enough for comfortable living. Nabawiya El-Garani, a member of one of the first four families to be moved on the occasion of the "celebration", has been told by City Council officials that she should expect to be moved again. "Why make me leave my home if they are going to move me again," she asked rhetorically. "I like it here. But without a contract I live in fear of what will come next." Unreliable as it remains, running water has spared her the uphill journey, undertaken every other day, to fill troughs carried on a donkey-pulled cart; and with furniture (donated), her new home is an improvement on the last. Yet she cannot fully enjoy any of it knowing she must move again...

A place to stay, Pierre Loza, Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 824, December 14 - 20, 2006.

"Egypt's Sunken Treasure" will be Paris's blockbuster exhibition this winter following its successful première last summer in Berlin, where it attracted a total of 450,000 visitors. For the next three months, Parisians can take a virtual dive to the bottom of the Mediterranean sea and explore the lost treasures of Ancient Egypt.

"Egypt's Sunken Treasures" at the Grand Palais was opened early this week by President Hosni Mubarak and President Jacques Chirac of France. The exhibition features some 500 spectacular objects that sank when geomorphic changes caused Egypt's North Coast to submerge between 600 and 800 AD. They have been rediscovered over the past decade by an underwater team led by French marine archaeologist Franck Goddio.

The Grand Palais, which was built early in the last century and houses art exhibitions from all over the world, combines an imposing classical limestone façade with a riot of Art Nouveau glass and ironwork. In 1993 one of the glass ceiling panels fell and the building was closed for 12 years so extensive restoration could be carried out...

Paris plunges into Egyptology, Nevine El-Aref, Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 824, December 14 - 20, 2006.