A wooden box camera sits at the front of Gaddis & Co. like an exhibit that wandered out of a museum. According to AramcoWorld, it was built in the 1860s for glass plates measuring 30 by 40 centimetres, and it travelled with Attiya Gaddis to villages and excavation sites for more than half a century.
Status (checked October 2026): the Winter Palace, beside which the shop stands, closed for restoration in early 2026. Its reopening as the Mandarin Oriental Winter Palace was announced for July 2027, though some operators say late 2027. We have not been able to confirm whether the shop is trading during the closure, so call ahead.
The Man Behind the Camera
Attiya Gaddis was born near Luxor in 1889. AramcoWorld says he apprenticed with a foreign photographer, probably Antonio Beato. Sources disagree on the dates: a Cambridge museum record has Gaddis assisting Beato from 1897 and buying the business in 1907, while AramcoWorld places Beato’s death in 1906. In 1907, aged 18, Gaddis opened a studio in the Luxor Hotel, and by 1912 he was working with Girgus Seif and had moved to the Winter Palace.
His work covers a lot of Egyptian history. AramcoWorld reports that he photographed objects from Tutankhamun’s tomb being moved under armed escort, photographed royalty and heads of state, and made thousands of portraits for the identity cards required under British rule. His portraits of ordinary Egyptians stand out because the sitters look relaxed, possibly, AramcoWorld suggests, because photographer and subject shared a language and culture. He died in 1972; sources give different dates for when he stopped photographing, from the 1950s to 1964.
He was not the only Egyptian photographer on record: Colonel Mohamed Sadiq Bey is documented earlier. But Gaddis was one of the first Egyptians to run a commercial studio in a trade that foreigners had long dominated. For the tomb whose objects he photographed, see our guide to the Tutankhamun legacy.
Girgus Seif
Little is known about Seif. The partnership ended in 1933, when he opened a rival studio that did not prosper. After his death, a grandson sold his negatives to a framer who reused the glass.
How the Archive Survived
According to AramcoWorld, Attiya’s son Abdullah kept the glass negatives in a refrigerator for about twenty years. In 1994 a French archaeologist saw Gaddis and Seif photographs illustrating Jean Capart’s book on Thebes and asked whether there were more. The answer convinced Ehab Gaddis, Attiya’s grandson, to digitise the archive. Sources put its size anywhere from about 2,000 to 3,000 plates. He published Memories From The Past (1999) and a second volume, Egypt’s Native Son.
What You Will Find in the Shop
Books, jewellery, souvenirs, postcards, and digital prints from Attiya’s collection, which AramcoWorld reported as sold exclusively here; check whether that is still the case. Some visitors report fixed prices, and our guide to where to shop in Luxor notes the shop does not expect bargaining. The shop is on Nile Street beside the Winter Palace.
Planning Your Visit
- Pair it with: Luxor Temple, a few minutes away. For more shops, see where to shop in Luxor.