Known as Ta-Set-Neferu or The Place of Beauty, the Valley of the Queens served as a burial site for the wives of the pharaohs, princesses, and other ruling figures. The Valley of the Queens is on the west bank of Luxor near the Valley of the Kings. It is remarkable to mention that Nefertari´s tomb is considered one of the most beautiful tombs in Egypt with its marvelous paintings depicting Nefertari guided by the gods.
The Temple of Kom Ombo is a unique double temple constructed in Aswan during the Ptolemaic dynasty. The uniqueness of this temple lies in the duplication of its halls, rooms, courts, and sanctuaries designed for two gods. The southern half of the temple was dedicated to the crocodile God, Sobek, while the northern half was to the falcon God, Horoeris (Horus the elder). Both sides of the temple are perfectly symmetrical on the axis.
Also known as Djeser-Djeseru, the Mortuary Temple Complex of Hatshepsut is beneath the cliffs at Deir el-Bahari on the west bank of the Nile. The temple was built in dedication to Hatshepsut and Amun. It lies next to the Mortuary Temple of Mentuhotep. The relief sculptures in the temple recite the tale of the divine birth of a first-of-its-kind female pharaoh.
Overlooking the Nile, this magnificent site houses more than 400 tombs of nobles and high officials. The tombs that are still being excavated date back to the Old and Middle Kingdoms. The vivid paintings on the wall of the tombs reveal insightful information about the daily life of ancient Egyptians.
The Valley of the Kings is a magnificent burial ground where, to date, 63 tombs have been unearthed. The rooms range from a simple room to corridors with 120 chambers and pharaohs like Ramses II, Tutankhamen and Seti I found their resting place here. The valley has been a focus of several archaeological explorations; in 1979, the valley became a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Built between 1960 and 1970 across the Nile in Aswan, the High Dam is the largest worldwide. The dam is 3600 meters long, 980 meters thick at the base, and 11 meters tall. The High Dam is a pivotal project implemented post the Egyptian Revolution to control the flooding and provide increased water storage for irrigation and generating hydroelectricity.
This three-thousand-year rock-cut temple, commissioned by Ramses II, is considered among the most visited and photographed archaeological sites in the world. Abu Simbel and the Nubian Monuments are part of a UNESCO relocation project implemented in the 1960s after the construction of the High Dam and the submersion of low areas.
The Unfinished Obelisk of Queen Hatshepsut is a more than a 3,500 years old monument, abandoned in an Aswan stone quarry. It is nearly one-third bigger than any ancient Egyptian obelisk. If completed, it would have weighed around 1,090 tonnes and would have been almost 42 meters high. Works on the unfinished obelisk were abandoned when cracks appeared in the granite after the creators began to carve it out of bedrock. This unfinished obelisk is a demonstration of the extraordinary stone-working techniques of ancient Egyptians.
Measuring 1200 meters from north to south and 400 meters at its widest point, Elephantine Island is located downstream of the First Cataract, at the southern border of Upper Egypt with Lower Nubia. The name Elephantine means both ‘elephant’ and ‘ivory’, referring to the important role the island played in trading ivory. It is also believed that Elephantine Island received this name for its shape that resembles elephant tusk.
