Location of Luxor

Luxor Governorate extends for 110 km along the Nile River and is 635 km away from Cairo. It is bordered by Qena governorate in the north, by Aswan governorate in south, by Al-Bahr Al-Ahmar (Red Sea) governorate in east and by the New Valley governorate in west.

History of the governorate

The importance of the city started as early as the 11th Dynasty, when Luxor became the capital of Egypt and the glorious city of god Amun. Starting from Montuhotep II who united Egypt after the troubles of the First Intermediate Period, the city started to play a major political and religious role in the country. The glory of Luxor lasted long during the Pharaohs of the New Kingdom.

However, the political and military importance of the city faded during the Late Period, with Thebes being replaced as political capital by several cities in Northern Egypt, such as Bubastis, Sais and finally Alexandria. Meanwhile, it kept its religious position up to the Greek Period.

Later, Muhammad Ali who started ruling Egypt in 1805 divided the country into directorates. One of these directorates was called Girga, or Upper Egypt. Accordingly, this directorate had a number of cities including Mishta and Qena, in the north; and Esna, in the south. By then, Luxor was just a city in this directorate.

With the new demonstrative division to governorates in 1960, Girga lost a big portion of its southern area, and another governorate, which is called Qena, split from it. By then, Luxor was just a city in this governorate.

In 2009, Luxor split from Qena governorate to form a new one with Luxor as its capital.

Administrative divisions

Beside these central cities, Luxor has more divisions to rural areas and villages.