The Sheikh Al-Taher School in Karnak: A Center of Learning Turned Ruins

In the heart of the village of Karnak, north of Luxor, stands a dilapidated old building, with only the ground floor remaining, which is on the verge of collapse. To the observer, it may appear to be just an abandoned house, but in fact, it is a historical witness to the first elementary school established in Karnak in 1930 by Sheikh Al-Taher Abdullah, father of the late great writer Yahya Al-Taher Abdullah, one of the most prominent writers of the 1960s and author of the novel “The Necklace and the Bracelet,” which was later turned into a famous film.