On the west bank of Luxor, nestled among the cliffs of the Theban Necropolis, there once stood a thriving community. The residents of Qurna lived above the ancient tombs for generations, until they were relocated to the edge of the desert in the 2000s. Yet the mountain has not disappeared from their lives.
Many members of the Qurnawi community still return day after day to the slopes of El-Khokha, where they work alongside archaeologists to uncover the layers of the past. In a landscape where ancient relics, personal stories, communal memory, and spiritual continuity intertwine, the mountain remains an important focal point of identity and connection to home.
The exhibition presents the lives of the people of Qurnawi, their decades-long relationship with the Hungarian Archaeological Mission at Thebes, and the unique bond that ties a community to its abandoned yet enduring home.
In addition to contemporary photographs, archival images spanning nearly forty years from the collection of the Hungarian Archaeological Mission in Thebes are also on display. Images from the past and present together paint a broader picture of the landscape, the excavation, and the people living here.
The Hemző Award
Established in 2013, the Károly Hemző Award is open to Hungarian photographers (both from the motherland and beyond its borders) under the age of 35 who have created works worthy of the spirit and professional quality of the award’s namesake, preferably in Hungary or Hungarian–populated areas, depicting everyday working and/or private life, art, science, sports, and leisure. Experts invited by the Károly Hemző Foundation nominate artists for the award once a year. From among them, the board of trustees selects the finalists and the recipient of the Hemző Award.