Nag Hammadi ( ; ) is a city and markaz in Upper Egypt. It is located on the west bank of the Nile in the Qena Governorate, about north-west of Luxor. The city had a population of close to 61,737 . It was made famous in 1945 for the "Nag Hammadi library," an important collection of ancient texts found nearby.
History The town of Nag Hammadi was found on the site of older villages Ansan () and al-Luaqi () in the 19th century and was named after its founder, Mahmoud Pasha Hammadi, a member of the Hammadi family in Sohag, Egypt. Mahmoud Pasha Hammadi was a major landholder in Sohag, and known for his strong opposition to the British rule in Egypt beginning in 1882.
In the city of Nag Hammadi, there is the palace of Prince Youssef Kamal, a member of the royal family (the family of Muhammad Ali Pasha), which overlooks the Nile River and is now an archaeological site.
Nag Hammadi is about west of ancient site of Chenoboskion (). The "Nag Hammadi library", an important collection of 2nd-century Gnostic texts, was found at Jabal al-Ṭārif near Nag Hammadi in 1945.. "The Nag Hammadi Library consists of twelve books, plus eight leaves removed from a thirteenth book in late antiquity and tucked inside the front cover of the sixth. These eight leaves comprise a complete text, an independent treatise taken out of a book of collected essays". (p. 10).
The city was the site of the Nag Hammadi Massacre in January 2010, in which eight Coptic Christians were shot dead by three men."Egypt's anxious Copts 'await next catastrophe (25 January 2010) BBC News In total, nineteen Coptic Christians were attacked.
Economy Sugar and aluminium are produced in Nag Hammadi. The Nag Hammadi Sugar factory was built in 1895–1897 by French contractors Cail and Fives.Undated photo Wikimedia It is still in operation in 2018. Egyptalum is one of the largest aluminium producers in the Middle East. Wood particleboard is manufactured from sugar cane bagasse.
See also
List of cities and towns in Egypt
References