GIRGA, or GIRGEH  , a town of Upper Egypt on the W. bank of the Nile, 313 M . S.S.E. of Cairo by rail and about ro m . N.N.E. of the ruins of Abydos . Pop . (1907) 19,893, of whom about one-third are Copts . The town presents a picturesque appearance from the Nile, which at this point makes a sharp bend . A ruined mosque with a tall minaret stands by the river-brink . Many of the houses are of brick decorated with glazed tiles . The town is noted for the excellence of its pottery . Girga is the seat of a Coptic bishop . It also possesses a Roman Catholic monastery, considered the most ancient in the country . As lately as the middle of the 18th century the town stood a quarter of a mile from the river, but is now on the bank, the intervening space having been washed away, together with a large part of the town, by the stream continually encroaching on its left bank .