Cemeteries and memorials to visit Sahara

Located in the Abaradjou district north of the city, the monument was inaugurated on 27 March 1996 at the Flame of Peace ceremony celebrating the end of the rebellion in the north of the country. More than 3 000 guests, representatives of the United Nations and the African Union, attended the inauguration. The then President of Mali, Alpha Oumar Konaré, and his counterpart in Ghana had ignited the weapons of rebel veterans to put an end to the clashes. For the people of the city and north of the country, it symbolizes peace finally found. It consists of 3 parts: the walls of the history, the stake and the silhouette of four people who hold the torch of peace.

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!

About a hundred tombs, including four underground ones, of great architectural beauty make up this funerary site. Some of the outer tombs have retained their elegant pillars, allowing archaeologists to learn more about the funerary rites of Alexandria. It is also known that the choice of burial was linked to the social status of the deceased and that children and adults received the same funeral treatment (burial, mummification, etc.)

If you follow the pavement path straight on through the sand, you'll come to a small temple from the Ptolemaic period, in fact a tomb from the ^4th century BC, that of Petosiris and his family. High priest of Thoth, Petosiris is said to have been a great religious reformer. On his death, he is said to have become the object of a cult himself.

His well-preserved tomb is well worth a visit, if only for its Hellenistic-style reliefs (on the right as you enter the vestibule). The guardians will not fail to suggest that you visit Isadora, a mummified young girl who is said to have drowned in the Nile. It's not a very pleasant sight.

Retracing your steps, turn left and head towards a sort of half-buried mastaba, to descend into crypts carved out of the rock.

You'll wander in semi-darkness along vast, perfectly ventilated corridors lined with niches in which thousands of baboon and ibis mummies have been found. This is hardly surprising, given that Hermopolis worshipped Thoth in both forms.

In 2018, new excavations uncovered over 40 well-preserved mummies in four Ptolemaic burial chambers (323 to 30 BC). 12 of these were children's, six were animals' and the rest were adult men and women. It would seem that they correspond to a middle-class family from the last pharaonic dynasty.

Fatimid tombs whose domes can still be seen are located behind the Nubia Museum, and a few metres from the unfinished Obelisk, the largest carved monolith lying on the ground. The marble plaques that adorned the tombs are mostly in Cairo, they bore the names of the deceased. The authorities do not appear to have marked the locations. The tombs are topped by a dome and small cement walls that delimit their rectangular contours. Some marble slabs have calligraphy on them.

This is the only Nubian tomb that survived the flood. It was carried out for Penout, a high-ranking official of Ramses VI. It was located 40 kilometres south of its present location, not far from Kasr Ibrim.

The tomb consists of a chapel and the tomb itself, dug out of a niche. The burial well, which opened in the middle of the room, remained in place when the monument was transferred. The frieze representing the deceased and his children is particularly beautiful, the linen veils of the clothes being very refined.

Ay is the twelfth and penultimate pharaoh. He ascended to the throne through his marriage to Tutankhamen's widow, Queen Ankhesenamun. Ay's tomb is not completely finished. Ay had had a tomb dug, and when the city and the cult at Aten fell, he had to dig a new tomb in haste at Thebes. His short reign did not allow him to complete more than the decoration of the burial chamber. It shows Ay hunting the male hippopotamus, and twelve baboons who gave the name to the valley. The stone sarcophagus is still in situ.

The construction of this small chapel, dedicated to the goddesses Nekhbet and Hathor, is attributed to King Amenophis III and his father Thutmes IV. The chapel, almost square, is supported by four columns with Hathor capitals. The interior is decorated with paintings that have retained their original hue. This small chapel was used as a resting place for the statue of Nekhbet during certain processions. The goddess protected the important mineral resources of this part of Egypt. In front of the entrance was a small hypostyle hall with four columns.

Ahmes son of Abana, born of a soldier father and a mother named Abana, is a soldier who played an important role under the orders of three pharaohs. His biography, on two walls of his tomb, relates all his feats of arms especially when the north of Egypt was annexed by the Hyksos. Born under the reign of Seqenenrê Taâ and died under that of Thutmes I: he took part in the various wars of reunification led by the pharaohs. He received seven times the supreme honorary decoration, the decoration of gold, from the hands of three different kings.

Pahéry is a painter and head of works in the tomb of his grandfather, Ahmnose, son of Abana, a war hero. He becomes governor of Elkab and Esna. His status as a nomarch enabled him to build his own tomb. The theme of the artistic copies served as a basic documentation, to express his artistic talent. The tomb he occupies with his wife has well-preserved paintings of scenes from agricultural life and the funeral rite rendered to the deceased. At the back is a niche housing a statue of Pahery, his wife and his mother.