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Temples of Doom
In Egypt's Valley of the Kings, rising water levels are threatening 4,000 year old murals.
Last Modified: 18 Jul 2007 10:33 GMT
Luxor Temple, Egypt
The gift of the Nile. Egypt owes its very existence to the waters of the great river, which for thousands of years has made barren land fertile, given life to one of history's great civilisations, and sustained a population now approaching 80 million people.
Yet those same waters are now threatening some of the world's most spectacular monuments. The ancient temples of Luxor and Karnak, and several others in southern Egypt, are in real danger from rising ground water in the Nile Valley.
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However the temples are not only being threatened by damage from salt water and the environment; their survival is also being compromised by an ever-expanding army of tourists.
 
Egypt currently receives eight million tourists a year, most of them attracted to the ancient sites of the pyramids, the valley of the kings, and Luxor.
 
The Egyptian government recently announced plans to double the number of visitors to the country within the next decade, to 16 million by the year 2016.
 
Temples of Doom examines the real concern that Egypt's ancient sites simply cannot cope with this volume of traffic.
 
The antiquities of ancient Egypt have survived for more than four millennia, but if they are to be preserved for future generations, drastic action is required across the region - and time is running out.
 

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