More re Luxor's controversial development of the Sphinx avenue

Egyptians (Tim Reid)

The avenue of rams is on the fast track to be completed in three years though UNESCO wanted a twenty year restoration. Here we have an article on the rough eviction of a Anglican pastor his wife and small child to demolish their home and the churches property to make way for the avenue.

That's what Mussolini did in his efforts to get down to the imperial remains of Rome as fast as possible leaving everything in the path destroyed simply to achieve his twisted vision of history.

The Arab American News (William Peck)

With photos. Thanks to Jane Akshar's Luxor News Blog for the link (where a comment has already been left in response).

In addition to the swelling number of tourists, another revolution is taking place, one not imaginable by those who have previously visited Luxor. In a move to make the ancient sites more accessible and facilitate the movement of tourists, the main streets have been widened by removing hundreds of buildings, including private houses and shops. Walls have been erected that often shut off the buildings that remain. To make the major temple sites more "attractive," large empty plazas and rows of badly designed shops have been created, again by removing many of the former occupants and their businesses.

The long avenue of sphinxes that connected Luxor and Karnak Temple in the past is being excavated, apparently in great haste, even where it passes under major areas of the city. Many of the sphinxes are so badly damaged they are unrecognizable, raising the question as to the value of the whole operation.