Hermopolis West, on the modern site of Tuna el Gebel near Minya, was the necropolis of the city of Hermopolis, sacred to the Greek god Hermes and his Egyptian counterpart Thoth. It is best known for the sprawling catacombs at the foot of the western cliffs, where thousands of ibises (dedicated to Thoth) and other sacred animals were buried from the New Kingdom...
Temple of Zayan | Ankh | The principal remaining monument at the ancient city of Tchonesmuris in Kharga Oasis in the Qasr el Zayan dated inscription in the temple is from the reign of the Roman emperor Antoninus Pius. Several guide books rate the Qasr el-Zayan fortress as in a very ruinous state. This is not entirely true, walls stand high, the centre of the temple...
El Kab | Ankh | The site of El Kab, known in ancient times as Nekheb, is located 32 km (20 miles) south of Esna on the Nile’s west bank. Activity at the site spans the entirety of ancient Egyptian history and beyond, from the Predynastic period to the Coptic era. El Kab was the cult home of Nekhbet, the vulture goddess of Upper Egypt, who was traditionally paired...
The ruins of ancient Heliopolis (also known as Iunu and On), center of the cult of the sun god Ra, are now covered by the Cairo suburb of Matariyya and few monuments are visible today. Highlights in Heliopolis are the Obelisk Park, where you can see an obelisk of Senwosret I and view artifacts discovered nearby in a small open air museum. Nearby is the Tree of Mary...
Saqqara | Ankh | Saqqara is located south of modern Cairo, on the west bank of the Nile river, and covers an area over 6 km long and more than 1.5 km wide. It was once part of a larger system of cemeteries that spanned the modern sites of Giza, Abusir, and Dahshur. The area was first used as a necropolis during the 1st Dynasty, and continued to be used for burials...
Egyptian Museum | Ankh | One of the world’s famous museums. It houses 250,000 antique pieces including mummies, sarcophagi and the fabulous treasures of Tut Ankh Amon’s tomb. This Exhibition is a revival of the cultural patrimony of the Mediterranean countries undertaken by the Ancient Civilizations Institute and the Reform Revivals of Modern Period as...
Giza Plateau is located west and south of modern Cairo, in the vast desert imagined by the ancient Egyptians to be the land of the dead. Guarded by the Great Sphinx, the Giza Plateau is dominated by the massive pyramids of Khufu (Gr. Cheops), Khafre (Gr. Chephren), and Menkaure (Gr. Mycerinus), all of whom ruled Egypt during the 4th Dynasty (c. 2500 BC). The royal...
Elephantine Island located to the north of the Nile’s First Cataract, is situated between the modern city of Aswan on the east and the pharaonic cemetery of Qubbet el-Hawa to the west. The Island of Elephantine was important throughout Egyptian history as a religious site, beginning in the Predynastic period and continuing down through Roman times. Temples and...
Coptic Museum | Ankh | Interest in Coptic art was revived at the end of the 19th century when Mr. Gaston Maspero, a French Egyptologist, brought together many pieces in dedicated rooms of the Egyptian museum. In 1908, Marcus Simaika Pasha, having obtained the approval of Patriarch Kyrillos V, succeeded in getting the Coptic Museum built on a plot intended for the...