GIRGA or GIRGEH, a town of Upper Egypt on the west bank of the Nile, 313 m. S.S.E. of Cairo by rail and about io m. N.N.E. of the ruins of Abydos. Pop. 19,893, of whom about one-third are Copts. The town stands on a sharp bend of the Nile. 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 late as the middle of the i8th century the town stood a quarter of a mile from the river, but is now on the bank.