Philae is an island in the Nile River and the previous site of an Ancient Egyptian temple complex in southern Egypt. The complex was dismantled and relocated to a nearby island in connection to the UNESCO project started because of the construction of the High Dam, after being partly flooded by the first Aswan Dam for half a century. The most conspicuous feature of both islands was their architectural wealth. Monuments of various eras, extending from the Pharaohs to the Caesars, occupy nearly their whole area. The principal structures, however, lay at the south end of the smaller island. The most ancient were the remains of a temple for Isis built in the [ Read More ]
Archive for the ‘Egypt Guide’ Category
Saint Catherine’s Monastery lies on the Sinai Peninsula, at the mouth of a gorge at the foot of Mount Sinai in the city of Saint Catherine in Egypt. The monastery is Orthodox and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. According to the UNESCO report (60100 ha / Ref: 954), this monastery is one of the oldest working Christian monasteries in the world together with the Monastery of Saint Anthony, situated across the Red Sea in the desert south of Cairo, which also lays claim to that title. The oldest record of monastic life at Sinai comes from the travel journal written in Latin by a woman named Egeria about 381-384. She visited many [ Read More ]
The Coptic Museum is a museum in Coptic Cairo, Egypt with the largest collection of Egyptian Christian artifacts in the world. It was founded by Marcus Simaika Pasha in 1910 to house Coptic antiquities. The museum traces the history of Christianity in Egypt from its beginnings to the present day. It was erected on 8,000 square meters offered by the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria under the guardianship of Pope Cyril V. The Coptic museum houses the world”s most important examples of Coptic art. In 1908, after receiving approval and a number of silver antiquities from Patriarch Cyril V and raising funds by public subscription, Marcus Simaika Pasha built the Coptic Museum [ Read More ]
The Pyramid and The Sphinx The Great Pyramids consist of the Great Pyramid of Giza (known as the Great Pyramid and the Pyramid of Cheops or Khufu), the somewhat smaller Pyramid of Khafre (or Chephren) a few hundred meters to the south-west, and the relatively modest-sized Pyramid of Menkaure(or Mykerinos) a few hundred meters further south-west. The Great Sphinx lies on the east side of the complex. Current consensus among Egyptologists is that the head of the Great Sphinx is that of Khafre. Along with these major monuments are a number of smaller satellite edifices, known as “queens” pyramids, causeways and valley pyramids. The Giza pyramids have been recorded in the Giza [ Read More ]
The pyramid at Meidum is thought to have been originally built for Huni, the last pharaoh of the Third Dynasty. It was completed and probably usurped by his successor, Sneferu, who also turned it from a step pyramid to a true pyramid by filling in the steps with limestone encasing. The Meidum pyramid was built in different stages, beginning as a seven-step pyramid to which an additional step was added at a later stage. It appears to have collapsed sometime during the New Kingdom. A subsidiary pyramid is located on the south side, between the main pyramid and the enclosure [ Read More ]
The river Nile flows from south to north through Cairo, splitting the city in two almost slap bang in the middle is the island of Zamalek, with Downtown and Shubra to the east, and Imbaba, Mohandiseen and Dokki to the west Zamalek is more properly known as Gezira (the island), although most people refer to it as Zamalek , it is a large island, about 4 km long and 1 km wide, although somewhat vulnerable until the Aswan Dam was built in the early 20th century , today Zamalek is one of the most important areas of Cairo, and two [ Read More ]
In a depression to the southof Chephren’s pyramid sits a creature with the human head and lion’s body, the name “Sphinx” which means “strangler” was first given by the Greeks to a fabulous creature which had the head of a woman and the body of a lion and the wings of a bird, the Sphinx appears to have started in Egypt in the form of a sun god, the Egyptian sphinx is usually a head of a king wearing his headdress and the body of a lion, there are, how ever , sphinx with ram heads that are associate with [ Read More ]
The funerary complex around Saqqara is even older than the pyramids of Giza, and among the oldest ruins you’ll find in the whole world of Egypt, a part from that, Saqqara is not great until you feel the history, the pyramid of Zoser was the biggrst structure ever built in a stone, but was lower than the smallest of the three pyramids of Giza, now both the casing is gone and natural has worn off even more. But those who feel like taking a journey back in time, there is a lot to discover around Saqqara, a good guide, [ Read More ]
How could a market in Egypt be responsible for the founding of the United States? Kan El- Khalili, Once known as the Turkish bazaar during the Ottoman period, now usually just called the “Kan El- Khalili” and the names of it and the Muski market are often used interchangeably to mean either. Named for the great Caravansary, the market was built in 1382 by the Emir Djaharks El-Khalili in the heart of the Fatimid City, together with al-Muski market to the west, they comprise one of Cairo’s most important shopping areas, but more than that, they represent the market tradition [ Read More ]
Knowing in Arabic as al- Muallaqah (” the suspended “), the hanging church is the most famous Coptic church in Cairo, the church is dedicated to the ( Virgin Mary) and is thus also known as Sitt Mariam or St. Mary ‘s church. The Hanging church is named for its location above a gatehouse of the Roman fortress in Old Cairo, it’s nave is suspended over a passage, the church is approached by 29 steps; early travels to Cairo dubbed in ” the Staircase Church” It was built in the 7th century, probably on the site of a 3rd or [ Read More ]