Sights

The piece de resistance of the New Valley’s tourism drive is the spanking new Museum of Antiquities, on An-Nasser St. 500m south of the tourist office. Displays illuminate the history of the oases. (Open Sat.-Thurs. 8am-2pm. Admission LE10. students LE5.)

Welcome, if only temporary, relief from Kharga’sNewTowncanbe found in the narrow alleyways of the Old Town. Locally made ceramics, carpets, and souvenir beef entrails and heads are available in the souk, which begins at Showla Sq. Surrounding the market are Kharga’s original mud-and-brick homes. Most have fallen prey to neglect as waves of migrant tenants have afforded owners the opportunity to move to modern quarters. Ambling from Showla Sq. on Salah Salem St. you will come upon a large intersection in the market; turn right and then left, after 50m, under a short thatched roof to explore the passageways of Sendediya Alley (Ads Darb as-Sendediya). This sunken walkway meanders under homes and the enormous wooden lintels that support them.

Kharga’s important ruins cluster at the northern end of town. A shared covered taxi will take you as far as the Hotel Al-Kharga (possibly farther), whence you can walk to the sites. The Temple of Hibis, 2km north of the Hotel Al-Kharga and close to the road on the left, was built by the Persian emperor Darius I (about 500 BC). The temple is one of only a few surviving monuments from the Persian period. The artistic style is noticeably less refined than in pharaonic temples. The temple was later dedicated to the Egyptian god Amon. (Admission free plus baksheesh for the guardians of the key.) Across the road and to the southeast, the Temple of Nadura crowns a knoll. Little of die temple is still standing, but the site exudes an exemplary view of the oasis and desert beyond.

The spooky 263 above-ground tombs (also called chapels) of the Christian Necropolis of Al-Bagawat stand at the desert’s edge, 500m past Hibis Temple on the road to Assyut. From the 3rd-8th centuries AD, a sizable Christian community inhabited Kharga; the domed, mud-brick mausolea here are the only surviving traces. The necropolis is visible from the road, and an asphalt path leads to the ticket booth. If you go up the hill along the marked path, you’ll come to the Chapel of Exodus. Inside, the ceiling mural depicts Pharaoh’s Roman-looking army chasing the Jews as they flee from Egypt. Other scenes show Adam and Eve and ankb-hkc crosses. In front of the Chapel of Exodus are the interconnected chapels #23-25. Down the hill and up the path on the right stands the Chapel of Peace (#80). The interior frescoes of biblical scenes exemplify Coptic painting of the early Alexandrian style. Greek inscriptions identify Adam and Eve, Noah’s Ark, and the Virgin Mary. Atop the cemetery’s central hill are the remains of a 4th-century mud-brick basilica. (Open 8am-6pm; off-season 8an>5pm. Admission LE10, students LE5.)