Monday 22 February 2016

EGYPTIAN VILLAGE MURALS

While visiting the Valley of the Kings in Egypt, there is a high probability that you will visit one of the nearby villages, which is a standard part of the "tour". The livelihood of the villagers depends on selling trinkets, souvenirs, sculptures and bric-a-brac to the tourists. We visited such a village and went on a tour of the alabaster "factory", where we were shown how the alabaster ware were made.

Needless to say that the alabaster vases are mass produced in a Cairo factory using modern equipment and they are then shipped to these local shops where they put on sale. The "workmen" in these village "factories" go through the motions of "making" these vases using traditional techniques.

I was more interested in the naive art murals that adorned these villages. As well as some copies of ancient Egyptian wall paintings, the majority of the murals depict folk art renditions of trips to Mecca. All Muslims who are capable of doing so must go on a pilgrimage to the Holy City of Mecca at least once in their life. It is beyond the means of most villagers and if one does succeed, it becomes a wonderful occurrence, which is commemorated in a series of murals on the home walls! So much for travel snaps...

This post is part of the Monday Mellow Yellows meme,
and also part of the Monday Murals meme,
and also part of the Blue Monday meme,
and also part of the Through my Lens meme.










8 comments:

  1. Very interesting!
    Have a wonderful week!
    Lea

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  2. Hi Nick,

    How I would love to visit there! Thanks for sharing.

    Have a Happy Blue Monday!

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  3. Hello, love the murals! Great collection of photos. Happy Monday, enjoy your new week!

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  4. I love Egypt ! Thanks for sharing !

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  5. I visited Egypt several times and I'm glad to see these pictures. Nice murals.

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  6. Delightful murals! And I like the pottery too.

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  7. I had no idea you can find wall paintings in small Egyptian villages. Pretty cool. Thanks for contributing to this week's Monday Mural.

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  8. Love Art
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