Kharga Oasis - new valley ecotourism

ECOTOURISM RESEOURCES INVENTORY 

Ecotourism for Sustainable Development in the New Valley Governorate 

KHARGA OASIS 

ECOTOURISM RESOURCES INVENTORY 

Environmental Design Group 

Architects - Landscape Architects - Environmental Planners 

Mostafa and Mohamed Elkhatib 

www.edgegypt.com 

CISS Egypt- International Cooperation South South 

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Site Name: Temple of Nadura 

Site Type: Archaeological site 

Site coordinates: N 25 28 103 E 30 33 412 

Period: Ancient Egyptian, Roman. 

Getting there & Site accessibility: Nadura is southeast of the Temple of Hibis and 

1.5 kilometers north of the tourist information office at Qasr Kharga. 

Entrance fee\ permission: N/A 

Description: Two sandstone temples are located on a hill known as Nadura (“lookout”) 

not far from the modern town at Qasr al-Kharga, southeast of the Temple of 

Hibis. The main temple was dedicated to Amun-Re (but Mut and the cult of Castor 

and Pollux have also been suggested) and was probably built in the second century 

AD during the reign of Antoninus Pius (138-161 AD). Not much remains of the 

temple but it once had a sanctuary and a number of associated chambers with reliefs 

decorating the walls. The temple was surrounded by a mudbrick enclosure with an 

entrance in the eastern side. Within this enclosure are also the remains of a church 

and the whole complex was reused as a fortress by the Turks. Outside the temple 

complex/fortress, towards the bottom of the hill is another Roman temple (perhaps 

dedicated to Aphrodite). 

There are also some ruins of a settlement in Nadura and a Graeco-Roman cemetery. 

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Site Name: Hibis 



Period: Saite, Persian, Graeco-Roman, Coptic 

State: Well preserved 

Getting there & Site accessibility: on the paved road to the airport, 2km north of 

el-Kharga. 2 WD 

Entrance fee\ permission: Hibis Temple is currently closed to tourists and only the 

outer parts of the enclosure may be visited. It will be open again after the completion 

of the restoration and conservation works. 

Description: This temple, constructed of local limestone blocks, is the largest in the 

Khargah oasis and is also the best preserved structure in Egypt from the Saite and 

Persian periods. It was built some time in the 26 th Dynasty, probably during the reign 

of Psamtik II (ca. 595-589 BC). Later rulers, such as Darius I (ca. 521-486 BC), 

Akhoris (ca. 393-380 BC), Nectanebo I and II (ca. 380-362 BC and 360-343 BC) and 

Ptolemy IV (221-204 BC), have left their mark on the temple through architectural 

additions and wall decorations. There might have been a temple here as early as the 

New Kingdom, but to date only a few blocks from this period have been found. 

The name Hibis derives from the Ancient Egyptian Hbt, which means “the plough” 

and was the ancient name for the whole oasis. The temple was dedicated to Amun but 

other important gods of the oases were also venerated here, e.g. Min and Seth. On the 

walls of the sanctuary are figures of an unusually large number of gods, probably 

representing their divine statues found in sanctuaries in various important religious 

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centers around Egypt. 

The oldest remaining parts of the temple, the sanctuary, its associated chambers and a 

hypostyle hall, were decorated by Darius I but were erected already in the Saite 

period (26 th Dynasty). Another hypostyle hall was added in front of the earlier one by 

Akhoris who also added a courtyard through which the temple was entered. Later, the 

Nectanebos (I and II) had the enclosure wall built in addition to a kiosk which was 

erected in front of the entrance to the temple. In the Ptolemaic period an additional 

enclosure was built with a massive sandstone gateway (the Great Gateway) and from 

this an avenue lined by sphinxes led to the quay of a large artificial lake. In the 

Roman period an additional gate was built on this avenue. Inscriptions from as early 

as AD 49 have been found on this gate. 

Inside the temple, the main halls are surrounded by rooms and chapels with stairways 

leading to upper floors and the roof. In some rooms are trapdoors leading to 

underground crypts. The later additions of the temple had wooden roofs which have 

now disappeared. Among the many, and in some places very well-preserved, reliefs is 

a winged, blue figure of Seth with a falcon head and his spear, defeating the serpent 

Apaphis. Some scholars have suggested that this motif is a precursor of that of St. 

George and the Dragon. 

There was a settlement associated with the temple, but this is now mostly covered by 

the surrounding cultivation. However, some excavations made in the early 20 th 

century revealed a few houses (presumably of the Graeco-Roman periods). Remains 

of Graeco-Roman houses have also been found between the temple and the enclosure 

wall. In the 4 th century, a church was built against the north wall of the temple portico 

and a number of other structures surrounded it. 

Since the temple went out of use some time in the 4 th century, stones have been 

quarried for use elsewhere and irrigation and cultivation close to the temple have 

caused the ground around and beneath the temple to sink. Ancient reparations to the 

temple show that this was a problem already while the temple was in use, presumably 

due to its location on a lake. Work has been underway since the 1980‟s to rescue the 

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temple from further damage. Originally there were plans to relocate the temple on 

drier land, but this has required that large amounts of in situ conservation work have 

had to be completed first. The fate of the temple is therefore yet to be decided. 

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Site Name: Gebel al-Teir 

Site Type: Rock inscriptions 


Period: Prehistoric to Modern 

State: Under threat 

Getting there & Site accessibility: Located about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) north of 

Bagawat and 8 kilometers north of Qasr Kharga. Gebel al-Teir is complicated and 

should not be undertaken without a local guide. 

Entrance fee\ permission: Not Applicable 

Description: 

Gebel al-Teir is a mountain about 8 km north of Qasr Khargah. In one of its wadis are 

several areas with rock-inscriptions and graffiti. They range in date from prehistoric 

to modern times and are frequently found in sheltered recesses in the hills. 

Inscriptions are written in hieroglyphs, Demotic, Greek, Coptic and Arabic. At the 

entrance to the wadi is the first set of rock-inscriptions, consisting of prehistoric 

depictions of animals such as giraffes and gazelles, human figures with bows and 

arrows, a boat, Egyptian deities and numerous inscriptions. About 155 m further into 

the wadi is a second set of inscriptions, many dedicated to Ancient Egyptian gods, 

predominantly Min, and much of the writing is in hieroglyphs dating from the Late 

and Ptolemaic periods. These are probably connected to limestone quarrying that took 

place in the walls of the mountain just across the wadi. At the top of the mountain is 

the Cave of Mary and below this is an area with a large number of Coptic paintings 

and prayers from the 4th, 5th and 10th centuries, left by hermits living in caves here 

presumably to be near the revered cave at the top. 

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Site Name: Qasr al-Ghweita 



Period: Middle Kingdom - Roman 

State: Well preserved 

Getting there & Site accessibility: 3km to the east of the main road and about 18km 

south of the city of el-Kharga. 

Entrance fee\ permission: One LE for Egyptians, 25 LE for foreigners 

Description: 

The large mudbrick fortress at Ghweita probably once served as headquarters for the 

garrisons of Roman troops stationed in the Kharga Oasis. Not much is known of the 

exact function of the buildings here but remains of a settlement have been found both 

within and around the fortress. 

The most prominent building on the site is a stone temple. It was dedicated to the 

Theban triad (Amun, Mut and Khonsu) and may have been erected as early as the 

Saite period, but is more likely to date to the reign of Darius I (ca. 521-486 BC). 

Several Ptolemaic kings added additional structures to the original temple and may 

also have built a Birth House (mammisi) of which only a facade remains. The temple 

is entered through a sandstone gate that opens onto a courtyard. Beyond this is a 

hypostyle hall, and through this are the three sanctuaries. A stairway to the south of 

these leads to the roof. The walls are decorated with reliefs dating from both the 

Perisian and Ptolemaic periods and also have later Greek and Coptic graffiti. Around 

the temple are mudbrick structures. 

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The settlement connected to the temple was called Perousekh in Ancient times and 

existed probably as early as the Middle Kingdom. It is well-known from tombs in 

Thebes where it was known for its quality wine. 

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Site Name: Qasr al-Zayyan 



Period: Graeco-Roman 

State: Ruin 

Getting there & Site accessibility: Near the main road, about 75km north of Dush 

towards Kharga City and about 30km to the south of the city of el-Kharga and not far 

from the fortress of Qasr el-Ghweita. It can be easily reached by 2WD road and a 4×4 

vehicle is not necessary. 

Entrance fee\ permission: 1 LE for Egyptians and 25 LE for foreigners 

Description: 

The small temple at Qasr el-Zayyan is built of sandstone and dates to the Ptolemaic 

period. It has an outer wall of mudbrick with a well-preserved sandstone gate. The 

main temple building consists of a sanctuary and an ante-chamber which are reached 

through a mudbrick hall. The temple was restored in the Roman period during the 

reign of Antoninus Pius (in AD 140). It was dedicated mainly to Amun of Hibis 

(Amenibis). 

It was once associated with one of the largest settlements in the oasis, known as 

Takhoneourit, “the Great Well” in Pharaonic times, and Tchonemyris in Graeco- 

Roman times. The settlement has not been excavated but the remains of a well which 

could have been the “Great Well” have been found near the temple enclosure wall. In 

addition to the importance the settlement would have gained from the accessibility to 

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water, it was also located on a route leading to Esna during Roman times. Ruins of 

the Roman town are still visible and the large mudbrick walls surrounding the temple 

are the remains of a Roman fortress, similar to that at Qasr al-Ghweita. 



Site Name: Dush (Kysis) 

Site Type: Archaeological site (Fortress and Temple) 



Getting there & Site accessibility: Dush is situated about 15 km north-east of el- 

Qasr. 2WD 


Description: 

Dush is the most extensively investigated site in the Kharga oasis and has revealed a 

fortress, temples, a garrison town and a necropolis. In Graeco-Roman times this site 

was known as Kysis and was located in a strategic position on a hill on an important 

caravan route (the southern end of Darb al-„Arbain) on the southern limits of the 

oasis. Soldiers were sent here from the Nile Valley from probably as early as the Old 

Kingdom to protect the Egyptian border. The remains of the fortress visible today, 

however, date to the Roman period. At this time it was also an important religious 

center and pilgrims came from all over the Empire to visit the temple of Isis, Serapis 

and Osiris. The remains of this limestone temple stand just outside the fortress walls. 

It was built in the reign of Domitian (between AD 81 and 96) on an earlier mudbrick 

shrine and the emperors Trajan and Hadrian added architectural elements and 

decorations. It is mentioned on the Trajan Column in Rome, a testimony to its 

importance. On the first pylon of the temple is an inscription identifying the town as 

Kysis. 

A mudbrick temple is located about 200 m west of the main one. The date of this still 

remains uncertain, but it is probably also Roman. 



The mudbrick walls of the fortress still stand to a height of six meters. When it was 

built in the Ptolemaic period it seems to have served as protection of a series of 

magazines and perhaps a temple. The exact relationship between buildings within the 

fortress walls remains unclear as there are a jumble of walls and passages on four 

levels. However, it seems that at least in the late Roman period it housed a garrison. 

The Roman town connected to the fortress was laid out on either side of a main 

thoroughfare running south from the main temple. Several large houses built in the 

first century AD have been excavated here. They had been reused in several phases 

and the most recent level dates to the 4 th century. They had courts and peristyles and 

were decorated with frescoes. The inhabitants of these and other houses were buried 

in domed tombs in cemeteries to the north and west of the town. The settlement 

seems to have been abandoned in the 5 th century. 

Among the most notable finds from the Roman fortress is the Treasure of Dush 

discovered in 1989 by the French team excavating in one of the rooms. It consists of a 

collection of religious objects and jewelry from the 4 th -5 th centuries. It included a 

golden crown with a figure of Serapis as well as bracelets and pendants of gold and 

semi-precious stones. The treasures are on display in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. 

Other finds include large amounts of ostraca and papyri from the 3 rd -5 th centuries. 

On the slopes of the hill are the remains of Persian and Ptolemaic settlements and 

more cemeteries and a qanat system are located in the surrounding areas. 



Site Name: Deir Al Munira 

Site Type: Archaeological site / Fortress 


Period: Roman 

Getting there & Site accessibility: lies at the foot of the eastern escarpment about 

20km north of el-Kharga, where it guarded the main desert route towards Farshut and 

the Nile Valley. A well-defined dirt track to the fortress of el-Deir leads off from the 

main Kharga to Asyut road but ends about two kilometres from the site. The last part 

over a chain of encroaching sand dunes should not be attempted unless on foot or 

alternatively from the south in a 4×4 vehicle. Permission from the Antiquities Office 

and a guide must be obtained before visiting this site. 


Description: 

The town at al-Deir (or Deir al-Munira) was probably occupied from the 4 th century 

BC to the 6 th century AD. From its location at the foot of the escarpment the fortress 

guarded the road that lead from the oasis to Farashut in the Nile Valley and may have 

been the largest of its kind in Kharga. It played a similarly important role during 

WWI when British soldiers reoccupied the fortress and left behind graffiti on the 

walls. 

The current brick fortress probably dates to the reign of Diocletian (AD 284-305). It 

has twelve round towers, two in each of the four sides and one in each corner. Inside 

are several rooms and in the courtyard is a large well which is now filled with sand. 

Water was led from the well through an underground aqueduct system to the fields 



outside the fortress walls. Several staircases lead to a parapet on the roof between the 

towers. 

About 1.5 km northwest of the fortress is a mudbrick temple from the 2nd-3rd 

centuries containing four chambers. It was converted to a church after it went out of 

use. This church may have been part of the deir (monastery) that the name refers to. 

Excavations have uncovered fragments of painted plaster and Demotic and Greek 

papyri. On the walls of the sanctuary is Coptic, Greek and Arabic graffiti. Around the 

temple are remains of the town, including many visible traces of the ancient irrigation 

system. 

Around the Roman fortress is a necropolis investigated by a French team since 1997. 

In the southern part are tombs with remains in wooden sarcophagi. In the north they 

found tombs with limestone sarcophagi, some with well-preserved mummies still 

inside. These tombs probably date to the late Roman period (3rd-5th centuries AD). 

In the east were Ptolemaic tombs that had been reused for the burial of mummified 

dogs. Finally, in the west, they have discovered Christian burials from around the 4th 

and 5th centuries. West of the fortress was also the remains of an embalming house of 

mudbrick. Vases found inside the house contained products used in embalming, such 

as oil and natrium. 



Site Name: Manawir 


Site coordinates: 

N 24 34 300 E 30 40 351 

Period: Paleolithic-Old Kingdom; Persian and Roman 

Getting there & Site accessibility: two km from the road to Dush 


Description: 

The most interesting remains at Ain Manawir are the extensive underground 

aqueducts known as qanats constructed here by the Persians in the 5th century BC. 

This enormous effort to re-settle and irrigate this part of the oasis was done after it 

had been abandoned in the Old Kingdom, presumably because the artesian wells in 

the area dried up. The aqueduct system provided the settlement with water but also 

irrigated fields and orchards and all of these features have been uncovered in recent 

excavations at the site. The qanats were long underground tunnels dug through the 

slopes of the surrounding sandstone hills to collect the water trapped in natural 

aquifers and lead it to the settlement. 

The primary occupation layers date to the Roman and Persian periods, but around the 

artesian wells in the area are remains of earlier temporary camps from the Paleolithic 

period until the Old Kingdom. 

A small mudbrick temple built in the 5th century BC and dedicated to Osiris is the 

only shrine known on the site. It has a Nubian vault opening onto the sanctuary and a 

„boat chapel‟ that were originally paved with stone. Under the northern rooms are 

crypts originally thought to have been cenotaphs of Osiris, but are now looking 



increasingly like ordinary storage rooms. Among the finds in the temple were molded 

glass pieces that had been used in a mosaic relief similar to those found on the walls 

of the temples in Persia. These finds suggest the technique was introduced to Egypt a 

hundred years earlier than previously thought. Attached to and surrounding the 

temple are a number of mudbrick buildings that were all connected to the 

administration of the temple. One building which communicated directly with the 

temple through a doorway contained a number of ovens, suggesting it may have been 

the bakery or kitchen. In this area, mainly in the priests‟ quarters, the excavators have 

uncovered about 450 ostraca, which include a number documenting water collected 

from the aqueducts in the Persian period. Other deal with contracts concerning water 

rights, or are religious documents. They date in range from Darius I (c. 521-486 BC) 

and Artaxerxes I (c. 465-424 BC) in the 27 th dynasty to Amyrtaios (around 400 BC) 

in the 28 th , describing the time of the digging of the qanats and their use. 

The settlement was probably abandoned in the beginning of the 4th century and was 

not resettled until Roman times. The Romans reused the qanats and dug them even 

deeper, but eventually it seems that this source also dried out and the site was 

abandoned by the 3rd century AD. 

Source: Wuttmann, M. & Gonon, T. & Thiers C., The Qanats of „Ayn-Manâwîr) 

Source: Wuttmann, M. & Gonon, T. & Thiers C., The Qanats of 

„Ayn-Manâwîr 



Site Name: Qasr al-Labekha 

Site Type: Archaeological site (Temple, Fortress) 

Site coordinates: N 25 42 502 E30 33 120 


Getting there & Site accessibility: Qasr el-Labekha lies in an isolated part of the 

desert around 12km west of the main Asyut to el-Kharga road and approximately 

50km north of the city itself. 


Description: 

Qasr Labekha is located in a wadi and was one of the largest settlements in the 

Kharga oasis in the Roman period. The large fortress housed a garrison and guarded 

the Darb „Ain Amur, the main route to Dakhla. The site also contains two temples, 

aqueducts, remains of the settlement and a necropolis. It was in use from at least the 

Ptolemaic period until the 4 th century AD. 

The mudbrick fortress has door posts and a lintel of limestone and each corner is 

fortified by a round tower. Some of the walls are still preserved to a height of 12 

meters. Inside are the remains of vaulted rooms and cells now filled with sand. 

Around the fortress are the remains of mudbrick houses, some once built up to three 

stories high and with domed roofs. The now silted well, located to the south of the 

fortress, provided the settlement with much needed water for drinking as well as for 

the irrigation of the surrounding cultivation, which was made possible by the digging 

of qanats (underground aqueducts). 

To the north of the fortress is a mudbrick temple from the 3 rd century AD. Inside is a 



great hall leading to an antechamber and a sanctuary in the western end. The doorway 

between the hall and the antechamber still has a cornice painted in red, blue, green 

and black. Few traces of decoration remains otherwise, but during clearance of the 

temple, a number of limestone fragments inscribed with the title Caesar and referring 

to Amun were found. There is an altar in the western part of the hall and a gate 

outside the temple leads to an underground chamber. A staircase may have given 

access to the roof. 

About 250 m to the south is a rock sanctuary that may have originally been the tomb 

of a local man called Piyiris who was deified after his death. The tomb consists of two 

pits with two connected antechambers. The main sanctuary is excavated into the rock 

next to the tomb and is preceded by two halls built of mudbrick against the cliff. 

Another sanctuary is partly hewn out of the rock and partly constructed of mudbrick, 

and also preceded by two halls. To the south of the halls is a large complex of service 

rooms built in mudbrick in front of the cliff. On the plastered walls are painted figures 

of deities such as Bes and geometrical patterns. The temple was completed in the 

reign of Antoninus Pius (AD 138-161) and may have been dedicated to Hercules 

before it became the shrine of the deified Piyiris in the 3 rd century AD. Coins of 

Antoninus Pius, Licinius, Septemus Severus and Constantin II have been found in the 

temple, as well as a limestone hawk. 

A large mudbrick building, possibly another temple, located to the north of the 

fortress contained more than one hundred Demotic ostraca, as well as one in Greek, a 

large bronze coin hoard and statues of Osiris, also of bronze. 

In the necropolis west of the fortress are tombs from the Ptolemaic and Roman 

periods. They contained wooden statues, jewelry, faience amulets and fragments of 

funerary masks and some of them had decorated chambers. In addition to this, there is 

another necropolis located west of the northern temple and in general, Roman tombs 

from the 1 st to the 5 th centuries are found all over the area. Anthropoligical studies 

conducted on the remains found in these tombs suggest the population was 

homogenous and the remains were similar to those found in Al-Dush and Al-Deir. 



Site Name: Ain Umm al-Dabadib 

Site Type: Archaeological site/( Fortress, Church) 


Period: Prehistoric, Persian (?), Roman 

Getting there & Site accessibility: The journey requires the use of a 4×4 vehicle 

with an expert driver, a knowledgeable guide. At around 40km north-west of el- 

Kharga, at the base of the northern escarpment, Ain Umm el-Dabadib is in a remote 

region of the oasis which lay on the Darb Ain Amur, the ancient route to Dakhla 

Oasis. 


Description: 

The ruins at Umm al-Dabadib stand at the base of an escarpment along the Darb 

„Ain „Amur. They are the remains of a large settlement and a fortress, probably from 

the Roman period, which were later inhabited by a Christian population. 

Underground is an extensive network of qanats (aqueducts) which once provided 

water for the settlement and the surrounding cultivation. 

The rectangular mudbrick fortress stands on the southern part of the site and although 

it is now largely in ruins, its walls once stood to a height of 15 meters. The entrance is 

in the south and each corner is fortified with a massive rectangular tower. This design 

sets it aside from the other fortresses in Kharga which all had round towers, perhaps 

suggesting a later date for its construction. Originally the fortress contained rooms on 

three floors, but only the much disturbed remains of the vaulted rooms of the first 

floor can be seen now. Around the fortress are the remains of a settlement containing 

houses and shops and the whole area was surrounded by a fortified enclosure wall 



which measured 100 meters in length. A Coptic chapel was later built on top of the 

remains of the fortress and on the plastered walls of this are traces of Coptic graffiti. 

A church was located to the east of the fortress but this has been almost completely 

destroyed by looters. Near it is a temple built in Egyptian style with walls slanting 

inwards. A recent survey of the site has found evidence in the form of pottery and 

tombs that suggest that the northern part was inhabited at an earlier date than the 

fortress and church on the southern part. 

The qanats are similar to the Persian types found in Manawir, suggesting they were 

constructed during the same time. They are combined with canals conducting water 

above ground and together ensured the constant irrigation of the surrounding 

cultivation. The underground tunnels run in parallel lines from the settlement towards 

the escarpment. In an outcrop to the east of the qanats are some rock-cut tombs and 

other cemeteries have also been found in the surrounding areas. The plain, which 

once was a lake, has revealed areas with Prehistoric remains. 



Site Name: Ain al-Dabashiya 

Site Type: Archaeological site (Village, temple, pigeon house, and tombs) 


Period: Late Period, Roman 

Getting there & Site accessibility: 


Description: 

The site of Ain Dabashiya is a small mound in the desert far from any modern 

development. It is dominated by the remains of a mudbrick temple but also contains a 

cemetery and remains of a settlement. The spring that has given the site its name is 

located on the southeastern part of the site. The temple is probably Roman in date, 

but other remains at the site date from as early as the 27 th dynasty (Late Period). 

Around the temple are modern mudbrick houses that were built on the ancient 

remains but have since been abandoned. Traces of ancient cultivation can be seen all 

around the site and a columbarium (pigeon tower) still stands to a height of about 6-7 

meters. Near the tower an area for food processing, grain in particular, has been 

identified through the find of numerous grinding stones. The cemetery is located to 

the west of the temple and contains simple pit graves as well as rock-cut tombs with 

several chambers, suggesting people from different strata of society were buried here. 

A canine cemetery has also been found here recently. 



Site Name: Qasr El Kashef 



Period: Pharaonic to the late Roman/Coptic period 

State: Ruin 

Getting there & Site accessibility: one km north of Bagawat 


Description: 

Qasr Mustafa Kashif, also known as Deir (monastery) Mustafa Kashif, is said to have 

its name from a Mamluk governor of Kharga (Mustafa the Tax Collector). The 

remains on the site all date to the Coptic period, however, and consist of monastic 

buildings, a church and a traveler‟s lodge. Before the Christians built here, the site 

was occupied by people in the Middle Kingdom and the Roman period and the 

monastery is built over an ancient tomb. 

The building has two entrances, one in the north and another in the south. Inside is a 

church with inscriptions from the 5 th and 6 th centuries on the ceiling. 

Two Roman temples were recently identified among the other ruins on the site. 



Site Name: Ain al-Tarakwa 


Site coordinates: 

Period: Roman 

- - 


Description: 

Ain al-Tarakwa is located on the road to Umm al-Dabadib which led to the Darb „Ain 

Amur. It was completely unknown until 1994 when it was revealed by a sandstorm. 

The site has not been excavated so it remains fairly unknown, but the pottery on the 

site dates to the late Roman period (3 rd and 4 th centuries). 

On the site is a sandstone temple with a tripartite sanctuary and a large cella. It is 

surrounded by a mudbrick enclosure wall which was entered through a gateway of 

sandstone in the southern wall. Unfortunately, the northern wall was destroyed by a 

front loader in recent times, when some blocks from the temple were also removed. 

Within the thick enclosure wall and directly in front of the temple entrance are the 

remains of a mudbrick church. 

In addition to the temple, there are traces of mudbrick walls, vaults and lintels visible 

in the sand both within and without the enclosure. 

To the south is a large cemetery with vaulted mudbrick tombs, most of which have 

collapsed. They contain burials from both the Roman and the Coptic periods. In the 

same area are two large wells. 



Site Name: Hassan Fathy Village 

Fathy's Baris Project for Public Housing in Kharga Oasis 

Site Type: Culture center / local architecture 


Period: Modern 

State: Closed 

Getting there & Site accessibility: on the paved road Kharga - Paris 


Description: 

New Baris was built in the 1960‟s to house a new agricultural community in the 

Kharga oasis. Its inhabitants were destined to cultivate 1000 acres of land in the area. 

Hassan Fathy was commissioned to design the architecture for the village and he used 

the Medieval villages in Khargah as an inspiration to solve issues with the high 

temperatures and sand and wind that can make the oasis near inhabitable. He solved it 

by building storages underground and creating architecture that allowed for maximum 

airflow through the rooms. He also designed the village so that the houses would 

provide shade on the streets during the hottest hours of the day, similar to the way the 

Medieval villages were laid out. The project was interrupted by the outbreak of war in 

1967 and was never resumed. One or two families lived in the village briefly but it is 

now abandoned. Among the remaining buildings are the market, two villas and a 

workshop. 





Site Name: Wadi al-Battikha 

Site Type: Natural Feature 


Getting there & Site accessibility: On the Kharga- Asiut road some ( ) km to the 

north of Kharga 

Entrance fee\ permission: Not applicable 

Description: 

Wadi al-Batikha, Valley of Melons, has got its name from the unusually shaped 

stones that are found here, resembling Egyptian watermelons. It is actually three 

separate wadis of which the third one is the most accessible. The Lower Eocene 

stones have been formed by wind erosion and polished to a shine by blasting sand. 

The shifting temperatures have split some of them in half. 

No picture available 



Site Name: The Necropolis of El-Bagawat 

Site coordinates: N 25-28- 549 E 30-33-174 


Period: Coptic 

Getting there & Site accessibility: 3 km north to Khargah Oasis on the road of the 

airport 


Description: 

This extensive cemetery now consists mostly of Christian tombs with burial chapels 

from the 4 th , 8 th and 10 th centuries, but it was used for burials long before this. It is 

believed to have served the community of the oasis from at least the time of the Hibis 

temple and some of the present chapels are built on earlier pit-graves. The cemetery 

contains 263 mudbrick chapels and covers an area of 500 by 200 meters with most of 

the tombs and associated chapels placed on ridges elevating them over the plain. They 

are clustered in eight main areas and with streets and alleyways separating the 

individual structures. In the middle of the area are the remains of what may have 

been a church or, as has also been suggested, the place where meals for the dead were 

held. 

The actual burial chambers are located underground and have shelves in the walls for 

the burials and funerary goods. Above these are square or rectangular chapels with 

one or two chambers. Some of them have a domed roof. Many had wooden doors that 

have now mostly withered away but many of the facades still retain their decorative, 

recesses and false arches. The interior walls of some chapels were plastered and 

painted with scenes taken from the stories of the Bible. But there are also motifs more 

reminiscent of Ancient Egyptian traditions. The result is an elaborate mixture of 



styles unique for Bagawat. 

Among the most richly decorated chapels are the Chapel of the Exodus and the 

Chapel of Peace. The first dates from the 4 th century AD and is one of the oldest in 

the cemetery. The inside of its dome is decorated with scenes from the Old 

Testament, including the Exodus, Noha‟s Ark, Jonah and the whale and Adam and 

Eve. On the walls are also graffiti from the 9 th century onwards, although much of it 

was removed in the 1920‟s as it was thought to be modern scribbles. The other chapel 

is probably from the 5 th or 6 th century and gets its name from a painting of a woman 

holding a scepter and a cross representing Peace. It also has scenes from the Bible, 

including New Testament images such as the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary. Both 

these chapels and their tombs had been robbed before excavation. One undisturbed 

chapel was excavated by an American team working on the site at the beginning of 

the 20 th century. Three coffins still remained in the underground chambers. One 

contained the remains of a woman accompanied with beads, iron bracelets, bone 

artifacts and glass vessels, some presumably intentionally broken during the burial in 

some sort of ritual. In another coffin were the mummified remains of a woman and a 

baby and in the third those of a man. 



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