Dark sights in Aswan
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Fatimid Cemetery
Behind the Nubia Museum is the vast so-called Fatimid Cemetery, a collection of low mud-brick buildings with domed roofs. Although most tombs are modern, some of the mausolea clustered towards the back of the cemetery go back to the Tulunid period (9th century).
The old tombs are in bad shape and when the original marble inscriptions fell off after a freak late 19th-century rainstorm, they were taken to Cairo without anyone recording which tomb they had come from. As a result, the dates and names of tomb owners have been lost forever. The tombs are covered with domes built on a drum with corners sticking out like horns, a feature unique to southern Egypt. Some domes near …
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Tombs of the Nobles
The high cliffs opposite Aswan, just north of Kitchener’s Island, are honeycombed with the tombs of the governors, the Keepers of the Gate of the South, and other dignitaries of ancient Elephantine Island. Six of the tombs are open to the public. The tombs date from the Old and Middle Kingdoms and most follow a simple plan, with an entrance hall, a pillared room and a corridor leading to the burial chamber. A set of stairs cutting diagonally across the hill takes you up to the tombs from the ferry landing.
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Tomb of Mohammed Shah Aga Khan
High up on the west bank stands the elegant Tomb of Mohammed Shah Aga Khan, the 48th imam (leader) of the Ismaili sect, who died in 1957, and of his wife the Begum, who died in 2000. Aswan was their favourite wintering place, and the family's white villa is in the garden beneath the tomb.
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