Tourist Attractions & Monuments Egypt

If you drive along the road to Gourna, you'll see two pillars which, as you approach, turn out to be two gigantic statues, the largest remains of the funerary temple built for Amenhotep III on the left bank. Originally carved in a single block, they reach a height of around 20 m on their plinths and represent Amenhotep III in a seated position, hands on knees, the position of peace. His mother and wife are depicted smaller at his feet. They originally adorned the entrance to the king's huge funerary temple.

Nothing remains of the temple - which explains their unusual presence in the middle of a sugarcane field - even though it was gigantic, stretching 700 m to the foot of the Theban Mountain. Shaken by an earthquake at the very beginning of the Christian era, the northern statue began to emit a sound due, it seems, to the heating of the stone exposed to the sun, a whistling sound that the Greeks attributed to Memnon, the mythical king of Ethiopia, son of Dawn, who inspired numerous pilgrimages and gave his name to the site. For two centuries, until Septimius Severus had the statue restored, depriving it of its distinctive sound, the Colossi of Memnon were a major tourist attraction. Among their famous visitors was the emperor Hadrian, whom Marguerite Yourcenar, in Memoirs of Hadrian, imagines resting in the shadow of the statue. Excavations are still taking place on the site, in the shadow of the colossi if you will.

Still welded to the rock from which it was to be extracted, it rests with its entire mass (1,200 tonnes) and length (42 m) on its granite bed. Abandoned as it was and left unfinished because of cracks that appeared in some places, it would have been the largest obelisk known once erected. The surrounding area is a former quarry where the workers used to work to remove the enormous blocks of stone that looked like temples, palaces or deities.

The work was insane, judge! You had to start by hammering the rock with a stone as hard as dolorite, until a sufficiently wide and deep notch was made. Wooden wedges, previously soaked in water, were driven in, and as they dried, the wedges expanded and shattered the rock. The operation was carried out on three sides. Depending on its use, it was roughened on the spot, sometimes even almost finished. It was then placed on a wooden sledge and taken down to the river by a special ramp. It was made of rubble, on which the masons sealed several layers of bricks covered with a thick layer of silt kept wet and slippery.

The felucca, in charge of transporting the blocks, landed a little before the receding water level near the bank. Once aground, there was time to load the felucca. At the next flood, the boat was afloat and set sail for the delivery. Unloading was carried out in the same manner.

Naama Bay is the main urban feature of the city's entertainment area. A long concrete driveway and delimited by trees arranged in a line. Much of the town's reputation for quality of life is directly related to the quality of the Naama Bay boardwalks. You will naturally come to this "waterfront" which is the entire length of Naama Bay. The languid and sustained glances that are cast upon it make it the first meeting place of the city. Beware of the gigolos, though..

The temple is dedicated to the god Khnum, represented with a ram's head, lord of Elephantine and part of the eponymous triad who commanded the Nile, god who created living beings on his potter's wheel. The goddesses Neith and Heket were also celebrated, the former being the mother of all gods, and the latter having participated with her in the creation of the world.

It was built during the Ptolemy period, in the 2nd century BC, and by the Roman Emperor Claudius between 41 and 54 AD. The hypostyle hall was then preceded by a second hypostyle hall, a naos, a main chapel and side chapels, with an ambulatory running all around the temple. The building is currently located 9 m below street level.

The openwork portico reveals six columns of the hypostyle hall. This structure is characteristic of Ptolemaic monuments and their Roman replicas. The scene represents Titus facing several deities. The two side doors were used by the priests

The hypostyle hall has preserved its 24 lotus-shaped columns whose scenes narrate the creation of the world orchestrated by Neith. The west wall is the oldest wall of the building and contains scenes of offerings from the periods of Septimius Severus and Caracalla. The east wall shows a scene of a massacre, while in the corner is a calendar of the festivities celebrated. Its ceiling is perfectly intact; it has astronomical elements that explain the solar race and the constellations.

In this small museum with its traditional architecture, you'll discover a facet of Siwi culture. It's the place to be if you want to get to know it better. However, if you don't have time to visit in the morning, it's advisable to arrange a private tour through the tourist office. You'll find all the traditional objects, culinary, domestic and decorative, that make this oasis a very special place in the Egyptian landscape.

It's a natural pool where Cleopatra is said to have bathed when she came to consult the oracle. Its clear, light water is incredibly transparent. The water that feeds it is pure and warm. A few years ago, only a small tent made of palm branches was erected here, offering siwi mint tea. The influx of tourists prompted Abdu to build a kitchen and toilets. In the evenings, sheep and goat barbecues are organized, as well as Siwi music concerts.

This superb but small tomb measures just 30 m in length and comprises just 3 chambers. It contained 3,000 pieces of the deceased's funerary furniture. Tutankhamun was hastily placed here in the surprise of his death. Only the burial chamber is represented. The 12 baboons depicted come from the Book of Amdouat and represent each of the 12 hours of the journey to the afterlife. Most of the treasure will be on display at the GEM in Cairo, but the red quartzite sarcophagus and the mummy are still on site.

This is Hurghada's black spot. The superb sandy curves of yesteryear have been cut up, concreted over, walled in, disfigured and, finally, made inaccessible (unless you pay a fee) to those who don't stay in the coastal resorts. Take a tour of the hotels and compare. Those at the Hilton and Marriott are particularly neat. If you really don't want to pay, you'll have to get away from Hurghada and swim in creeks that are cluttered with tires, bricks and used batteries.

This is the place to go if you're craving chlorophyll: 21 hectares of nature and tranquillity, right in the heart of the city. It's the place to be for lovers, who spend long moments hand in hand. But be warned: the zoo is poorly maintained, and the many exotic species that live there inevitably suffer as a result. If you go, you can enjoy a drink in the cafeteria next to the large monkey pit. For the curious, you can still see a bridge built by Eiffel.

Built in 1933 at the International Conference on Railways. This museum offers visitors 600 models, hundreds of documents, maps and so many treasures. We also admire the private collection of Vice-King Saïd. The employees of the station will tell you the path of this unknown museum; the guides speak only Arabic.

This beautiful palace built from 1808 to 1821 was designed by Pascal Coste, French architect. Located in the middle of what was once a large garden, three palaces were built: that of the fountain, that of the mountain and that of the tower. The best known of them is the fountain of the fountain (saraya el-fasqiya). As a square, a large basin is surrounded by a colonnade framed at its four corners of decorated pavilions, hosting the dining room, the Arab lounge, billiards and the Royal Lounge. There were sumptuous feasts and a boat on the pond. Another fun palace, called the mountain palace, looks like a six-degree pyramid, whose terraces are planted with trees.

It was Augustus who erected this temple, originally located 40 km north of its present site. Earlier, Amenhetep II had built a temple here dedicated to Mandulis, also called Meru, a minor Nubian god, but also celebrated at Philae in the temple of Isis. His lion-like appearance associated him with Tefnut, the distant and dangerous daughter of Ra. Even later, he was linked to Apollo. Measuring 71.60 m long by 35.50 m wide, it was one of the largest sanctuaries in Nubia at the time, alongside Philae and Abu Simbel. The dismantling and relocation of the temple was the first work of its kind, and served as a model for all others of its kind in the region.

Two surrounding walls surrounded the temple; only one remains today.

Pylon: two upright positions indicate that masts once stood in front of this recent temple, typically of Roman date; it gives access to an open-roofed courtyard surrounded by 14 pillars.

Pronaos: once past the Ptolemaic portico, access is gained to a covered pronaos supported by eight columns.

Sanctuary: two vestibules precede the sanctuary, where Augustus is depicted giving offerings to various deities.

Enclosure: the enclosure provides access to the outer walls of the temple and to the now useless site of a nilometer.

To the west, a small chapel dedicated to Dedoun, a young Nubian god known as "the purveyor of incense", also appears at Philae.

Located on the right bank of the Nile, some 20km south of the town of Al-Minya, the Beni Hassan necropolis is a group of princely tombs dating back to around 2,500 BC. It comprises 39 tombs dug into the upper part of an arid rock. The relief and color of this rock overlooking the Nile make it one of Egypt's most beautiful sites. Only twelve tombs have decorative motifs, and of these, four are open to the public. In order, visit Khety (no. 17), Baqît III (no. 15), a little further on Khnoum-Hotep (no. 3) and Amménémès (no. 2). The last two are the largest and most beautiful. These tombs were dug at the beginning of the Middle Kingdom, straddling the ^11th and ^12th dynasties (2060-1785 BC), for the nomarchs, the Pharaoh's regional representatives. Their power led to the collapse of several dynasties throughout the history of ancient Egypt.

To the south of the cemetery is a temple built by Hatshepsut and Thutmosis III, dedicated to the local goddess Pakhet 1. It is known as the Grotto of Artemis, because the Greeks syncretistically identified Pakhet with Artemis, and the temple is underground.

The numerous textiles and 38 mummies found during the excavations were put to scientific study by the Louvre in the 1990s. It revealed that mummification was not the exclusive preserve of the ancient Egyptian religion, since Egypt's first Christians, the Copts, were also mummified. If you'd like to find out more, take a look at the excellent documentary: The Mystery of the Coptic Mummies of Antinoe. The site is sometimes called Antinoe or Antinoupolis: on the site of his lover's suicide, the emperor Hadrian, who developed the Pax Romana throughout his reign, built the memorial city of Antinoe, of which only a few walls of mud bricks, shaped by the wind, remain.

With few remains, the Beni Hassan necropolis will be of interest mainly to those seeking to establish a chronology in the evolution of funerary art.

They will be seduced by the proportions of these vast tombs, of fairly simple architecture, with surprising paintings. These include a caravan of Asians, a fig harvest and a duck hunt. Whether surprisingly vivid animal scenes or depictions of wrestlers in action, they sometimes border on the comic strip or the Kâma-Sûtra. Gazelles are depicted mating, and the wrestlers aren't just fighting!

The «high dam» is located a few kilometres upstream from the river. Its construction began in 1960, following bilateral agreements between the Sudan and Egypt on the use of the 32 billion cubic metres of water that the 1929 agreements had left free.

The construction was entrusted to Soviet engineers; the work was completed in 1972. Its length is 3 600 m, its height of 111 m, with a thickness of 980 m. The dam is the centrepiece of the energy independence of the country whose electricity production exceeds its consumption.

However, different problems arise. Ethiopian and Sudanese silt deposited at the bottom of Lake Nasser and will require soon to be désensablé. The lake water reservoir could decrease if riparian countries in the Nile upstream use more water for irrigation of their land.

Nubia, which stretched south of the first cataracts, was inundated with lake waters. The population was relocated between Kôm-Ombo and Aswan, creating ethnic problems. Today, the pride of the Nubian people generates the development of clean tourism around their musical culture, culinary culture and traditions.

10 km southeast of Beni Soueif, this protected area houses fifty-four natural caves of great geological interest, some of which are up to 15 m deep.