Waterwheels

[Horus]

I can’t quite remember where I took this photo, somewhere on the road back to the Horus bridge as I recall. I often smile at his hand painted sign of 1 Euro per picture I bet he had lots of takers, is it still there?



I have always admired the skill of making these water wheels, such a crude construction but it worked well and did the job, rather an improvement over the labour intensive Shaduf. There are several I know of in and around Luxor and no doubt many that I don’t know about. I seem to recall that some time ago the Dr acquired one and turned it into a table of some sort?

This one was at the tourist farm out on the Movenpick road, it was an interesting place if you wanted to actually see one working. They were always willing to harness up the cow or push it around by hand if necessary, they also had a very nice working Shaduf.




This one was in the grounds of the old Movenpick hotel on the then ‘Crocodile Island’ not sure if it still exists after all the new building work that went on there.




Here are a few more from my old image folder.

[carrie]

There used to be one near the garden centre on the way to the Colossi but they have destroyed it.

[Horus]

There used to be one near the garden centre on the way to the Colossi but they have destroyed it.

Thanks Carrie, maybe that is the one in my first image as I was comming back from that direction at the time

[Who2]

From the other Dr Who album....


£60 quid.

[Horus]

Thanks Dr, I thought I remembered seeing such a post from you, certainly a very creative job.

[BBLUX]

There used to be one near the garden centre on the way to the Colossi but they have destroyed it.

Thanks Carrie, maybe that is the one in my first image as I was comming back from that direction at the time

Yes, Horus's first photo is of that one Carrie mentioned. By the side road next to the Papyrus Museum just before the Garden centre. It disappeared a few years ago.

[Horus]

Thanks Barry, funnily enough I have seen a similar looking one to that particular wheel in some of my other images, certain details look the same (I don't mean in general design) so maybe it was reused elsewhere, even the one being hauled up Who2's wall is looking suspect.

[A-Four]

I don't know if others remember a pretty good reproduction of an ancient chariot of the 18th Dynasty, that was once outside one of the papyrus museums on the left hand side of the road, when travelling west, past Mennon.

Is it still there ? ( or has the doctor purchased that also.)

P.S. Must ask my old mate Hassan to have a look over the wall, the next time he visits the family home. .

[HEPZIBAH]

Related...
I recall once being told that, ... somewhere on the West Bank in a banana plantation along the Nile bank, there is an old pumping station. I believe it was built using an English made pump. I don't know if it's still there or working/workable.
I've no idea why I've just remembered this.

[Horus]

Interesting Hepzi, was it by any chance a steam powered engine?

[HEPZIBAH]

Not sure but don't think so. I think it dated back to the 50's or 60's from what I could put together from the translated information because I remember thinking we were both made in Britain about the same time.

[Horus]

Oh what a shame I was hoping it was an old steam engine.

[carrie]

Still there Hepzibah, in the old pumping station, still works too.

[HEPZIBAH]

Carrie, where is this please?

[Winged Isis]

There is a very large wooden water-wheel used as a table in the TV-lounge area of the outdoor restaurant of the El Baeirat Hotel, WB.

[A-Four]

It may seem strange to many on here, but I and a certain amount of the 'old ex-pats residents' tried to set up the museum known as 'Amandola House' (sp) to give a true representation of the lost times of the hill people of the West Bank.

My self and a number of long gone ex-pats have contributed a vast amounts of items and photographs that help tell the story of those remarkable people. Under the previous Government, the then Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni and his partner was to set up a museum of modern life of the West Bank.

For such people who today holds items that are important to a future museum, please hold on to them, being that long after we are long gone, people will want to know of this past 'present' day of life. Always remember we are all, just a short period in time or this wonderful civilisation that so many of us have been been very privileged to have been a part of.

[A-Four]

There is a very large wooden water-wheel used as a table in the TV-lounge area of the outdoor restaurant of the El Baeirat Hotel, WB.

I am most grateful to you Winged Isis for your information, I know very well the family of this hotel\restaurant, and if I and others required this item for a future museum of modern life of the West Bank. I am sure they would give up such items, if only to memory of their past family, such as the wonderful Ali Gaballa, or even Sheikh Macmoud or even, peace be upon him, Sheikh Abu Gum Salam.

I only hope that long before I die, such a place can be set up to tell the true story of the hill people of the West Bank, that already seems even now lost to the modern world.

[Horus]

A4 I truly hope that you continue to make posts about the local history of Luxor, I have said it before and I will say it again, you have a vast pool of knowledge of the local history, but may I request that you make your posts more open and not make us have to guess as to what people or places you are alluding too in your posts, I understand why you do so, but it can be frustrating for other members to read. Do not be put off by those that would try to ridicule you, rise above it and maybe, just maybe we will get back to talking about Egypt on this forum once again, less politics and more things relative to the monuments and the culture of this wonderful ancient civilisation, the very reason I and many others joined in the first place.

[newcastle]

“......but may I request that you make your posts more open and not make us have to guess as to what people or places you are alluding too in your posts,I understand why you do so.......

Well , I doubt the rest of us do......any chance of enlightenment

[newcastle]

Incidentally, for more information on saqiyas - waterwheels - have a look at :

http://www.qurna.org/saqiyas.html

Indeed, the whole site www.qurna.org - the Qurna History Project- is a gold mine of facts and reminiscences of life on the West Bank.

Also worth a look is the balady handicrafts centre

http://www.baladyhandicraft.com/index.html