The best museums Aswan

One of the great achievements undertaken by UNESCO to safeguard the Nubian heritage, this museum opened its doors at the end of 1997. Entirely built in pink granite, it houses splendid pieces from Nagada 1 and 2 to Islamic and Christian Nubia. The name Nubia currently applies to the region stretching from the city of Aswan in the north to Debba.

It possessed important riches: gold, copper, semi-precious stones and amethyst. It was also the passage point for products from Equatorial Africa such as ivory, incense, eggs and ostrich feathers

Nubia has never been geographically isolated from Egypt, but it was not until 1899 that Lower Nubia was attached to Egypt, a British treaty ending the disputes caused by Mohammed Ali.

In 1907, the first Aswan Dam was built. On 8 March 1960, Unesco launched an appeal for an international expedition to save the Nubian monuments. Philae, Abu Simbel and the others will be moved, and Ancient Nubia will be flooded, forcing its inhabitants to emigrate to the north.

Such a civilization, charged with such an ancient history, had of course a priceless heritage characterized by the architecture of its habitat, its craftsmanship and its artistic expression.

The Nubia Museum traces the existence of this people step by step. The exhibition portrays the rich history of this region, which during the Hellenic, Roman, Coptic and Islamic periods retained its full identity.

Built on the road leading to the great Aswan Dam, it is impossible to miss this imposing and strange building whose architect seems to be inspired by a mixture of Nubian art and Soviet style. In the tradition of propaganda museums developed by every Egyptian president, the latter, inaugurated in early 2016, pays a heartfelt tribute to former Marshal Abdel Fattah al Sissi, elected two years earlier. But for once, there is no question of the greatness of the Egyptian army. The hero is the Nile, represented at the entrance by a fountain that rises to the ceiling. The eleven African flags, hung all around, are a reminder of the continuum that exists between these countries and the solidarity that should flow from it.

Right wing: a tribute to the Aswan dams. After the medals awarded by Nasser and the USSR to the builders of the 1964 dam, an ancient Egyptian waxwork takes a break. Without further explanation, the window next door displays a letter from Nasser celebrating the Aswan Dam and a letter from al Sissi praising the Nile Museum. The massive models of the 1898 and 1964 dams are of great interest. It is easy to see that the older one let more water through thanks to its hundred or so small openings, whereas the new dam has only about forty small windows. A junk shop window in the corridor follows, where different types of national pride are jostling for position.

Left wing: memorial objects. The fashion for holograms also seems to have reached Egypt. The first is Alaa Bacha Mubarak, the inventor of the Qanater dams north of Cairo. The second, in the background, is the Minister of Irrigation at the inauguration of this museum. The room is dotted with objects belonging to some countries of the Nile basin and technologies that were used in the construction of the Aswan dam.

^1st floor. The eleven "brother" countries were asked to furnish it, but the small number of donations says a lot about the political divisions that remain deep. It is, all the same, the only space in the museum where the daily life of the people of the Nile is evoked through paintings by Egyptian artists. Crowded aquariums close the visit.

Archive library. Open on request, it is a gold mine for those looking for archive photos, old newspaper articles and original maps of the Aswan Dam