El Bagawat, is an ancient Christian cemetery, and one of the oldest in the world, which functioned at the Kharga Oasis in southern-central Egypt from the 3rd to the 7th century AD. It is one of the earliest and best preserved Christian cemeteries from the ancient world.
The Necropolis of El Bagawat is located in the Western Desert in Kharga Oasis. This is one of the largest oases in Egypt and is 34 m below sea level. [1]
The El Bagawat cemetery is reported to be pre-historic [2] and is one of the oldest Christian cemeteries in Egypt. [3] [2] Before Christianity was introduced into Egypt, it was a burial ground used by the non-Christians and later by the Christians. The chapels here are said to belong to both the eras. [4] Coptic frescoes of the 3rd to the 7th century are found on the walls. [5] There are 263 funerary chapels, of which the Chapel of the Exodus (first half of the 4th century) and Chapel of Peace (5th or 6th century) have the best-preserved frescoes, although fresco fragments can also be seen in Chapels 25, 172, 173, 175, and 210. [6]
The El Bagawat cemetery has a very large number of tombs in the form of chapel domes. [2] They are built of mud bricks. The tombs have etchings of biblical stories, [2] and also of saints and “personifications of virtues”. [2]
In the Exodus Chapel, there is a depiction of the martyrdom of Isiah; [7] and also of Tekla postured with raised hands, in front of fire being doused by rain. In the Chapel of Peace, the illustrative fresco is of Thekla and Paul. [6]
There are paintings in the cemetery which show the ark of Noah in the form of an "Egyptian barque". Also notable are carved representations of Old Testament scriptures, including Adam and Eve, Daniel in the lion's den, the sacrifice of Abraham, and Jonah swallowed by a fish. [7]
Mersa Matruh, also transliterated as Marsa Matruh, is a port in Egypt and the capital of Matrouh Governorate. It is located 240 km (150 mi) west of Alexandria and 222 km (138 mi) east of Sallum on the main highway from the Nile Delta to the Libyan border. The city is also accessible from the south via another highway running through the Western Desert towards Siwa Oasis and Bahariya Oasis.
Asyūṭ Governorate is one of the many governorates of Egypt. It stretches across a section of the Nile River. The capital of the governorate is the city of Asyut.
Deir el-Bahari or Dayr al-Bahri is a complex of mortuary temples and tombs located on the west bank of the Nile, opposite the city of Luxor, Egypt. This is a part of the Theban Necropolis.
Bahariya Oasis is a depression and a naturally rich oasis in the Western Desert of Egypt. It is approximately 370 km away from Cairo. The roughly oval valley extends from northeast to southwest, has a length of 94 km, a maximum width of 42 km and covers an area of about 2000 km².
The Kharga Oasislit. 'the outer'; Coptic: (ϯ)ⲟⲩⲁϩ ⲛ̀ϩⲏⲃ(di)wah enhib, "Oasis of Hib", (ϯ)ⲟⲩⲁϩ ⲙ̀ⲯⲟⲓ(di)wah empsoi "Oasis of Psoi") is the southernmost of Egypt's five western oases. It is located in the Western Desert, about 200 km to the west of the Nile valley. "Kharga" or "El Kharga" is also the name of a major town located in the oasis, the capital of New Valley Governorate. The oasis, which was known as the 'Southern Oasis' to the Ancient Egyptians, the 'outer' to the Greeks and Oasis Magna to the Romans, is the largest of the oases in the Libyan desert of Egypt. It is in a depression about 160 km long and from 20 km to 80 km wide. Its population is 67,700 (2012).
The pope, also known as the Bishop of Alexandria or the Coptic pope, is the leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church, with ancient Christian roots in Egypt. The primacy in the Coptic pope, similar to the Catholic belief in the Bishop of Rome as successor to Saint Peter, is rooted in his role as successor to Saint Mark. The current holder of this position is Pope Tawadros II, who was selected as the 118th pope on November 18, 2012.
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There have been many architectural styles used in Egyptian buildings over the centuries, including Ancient Egyptian architecture, Greco-Roman architecture, Islamic architecture, and modern architecture.
Wadi El Natrun is a depression in northern Egypt that is located 23 m (75 ft) below sea level and 38 m (125 ft) below the Nile River level. The valley contains several alkaline lakes, natron-rich salt deposits, salt marshes and freshwater marshes.
The Monastery of Saint Anthony is a Coptic Orthodox monastery standing in an oasis in the Eastern Desert of Egypt, in the northern part of the Red Sea Governorate close to the border with the Suez Governorate.
Abu Tig is a city in the Asyut Governorate of Egypt. Located on the west bank of the Nile, it has a population of 70,969 inhabitants (2006).
The Coptic Museum is a museum in Coptic Cairo, Egypt with the largest collection of Coptic Christian artifacts in the world. It was founded by Marcus Simaika in 1908 to house Coptic antiquities. The museum traces the history of Egypt from its beginnings to the present day. It was erected on 8,000 square meter land offered by the Coptic Orthodox Church, under the guardianship of Pope Cyril V.
Saint Virgin Mary's Coptic Orthodox Church, also known as the Hanging Church, is one of the oldest churches in Egypt which dates to the third century. It belongs to the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria.
Coptic monasticism was a movement in the Coptic Orthodox Church to create a holy, separate class of person from layman Christians.
The Monastery of Saint Fana is a Coptic Orthodox monastery. It is named after Saint Fana, also known as Bane, Coptic Christian hermit. The monastery is sometimes called the Monastery of Abu Fanah and is also known as the Monastery of the Cross, due to the presence of many beautifully decorated crosses inside its church.
Selima Oasis is an oasis in the Sudan located 90 kilometres (56 mi) west of the Third Cataract of the Nile and the ancient site of Amara West. It lies along the Darb al-Arbaʿīn, a desert track linking Kordofan with Egypt. Just to the north of Selima, the track splits into a northern route going to Kharga Oasis and a northwestern route going to Dunqul Oasis.
The monastery of the Archangel Gabriel at Naqlun – a Coptic monastery of the Archangel Gabriel located in northern Egypt, in the Faiyum Oasis, 16 km south-east of the city of Faiyum in the Libyan Desert. Since 1986, it is investigated by a team of researchers from the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology University of Warsaw, headed by Prof. Włodzimierz Godlewski. In 1997, the Church of St. Gabriel was restored.
Darb El Arba'īn is the easternmost of the great north–south Trans-Saharan trade routes. The Darb El Arba'īn route was used to move trade goods, livestock and slaves via a chain of oases from the interior of Africa to portage on the Nile River and thence to the rest of the world.
A was the name of an Early Dynastic pharaoh of Ancient Egypt. His name is known from a graffito serekh carved into a sandstone outcropping 10 to 12 kilometers southwest of Umm el-Dabadib at the Kharga Oasis in the Western Desert. The presence of the serekh shows evidence of royal activity in the far reaches of the Western Desert as early as the protodynastic period.