Beit Zaman: The Old Forgotten

Naqada, Qift and Qus are cities located north of Luxor. They are some of the oldest urban settlements in Egypt, with a rich historical vernacular architecture, blending various influences. These buildings are typically privately-owned. Most lie empty; others are currently used as workshops or warehouses. Some are still used as residences. Modern demands, a growing population and lack of listed status all contribute to making the land these buildings occupy (and its antiquities) more valuable than the structures themselves. Unrecorded, underused and at imminent risk of destruction these buildings may be the most endangered heritage in 21st century Egypt.

"Documenting a forgotten heritage – the historical urban architecture of Naqada, Qift and Qus" was born out of the necessity of creating a record of this heritage before it disappears.

In our journey through these cities, we reconstructed the old trade routes via their historical vernacular architecture. We seek, through photographs and histories, to shed light on the process of change loss and preservation of the built environment and the lives of its inhabitants.

The project was funded by an AEF Short Term Grant from the American Research Centre in Egypt (https://www.arce.org).

The book complements the Beit Zaman group of photographs deposited in the digital archive Historic Environment Image Resources held by the University of Oxford, United Kingdom, accessed at https://heir.arch.ox.ac.uk.