Siwa Oasis Sights

  1. Fortress of Shali

    The centre of the town is dominated by the spectacular organic shapes of the remains of the 13th-century mud-brick Fortress of Shali . Built from a material known locally as kershef (large chunks of salt from the lake just outside town, mixed with rock and plastered in local clay), the labyrinth of huddled buildings was originally four or five storeys high and housed hundreds of people.

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  2. Gebel al-Mawta

    A small hill at the northern end of town, Gebel al-Mawta - whose name means Mountain of the Dead - is honeycombed with rock tombs, most dating back to the 26th dynasty, Ptolemaic and Roman times. Only 1km from the centre of town, the tombs were used by the Siwans as shelters when the Italians bombed the oasis during WWII. Many new tombs were discovered at this time but were not properly excavated.

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  3. House of Siwa Museum

    Around the corner from the local council offices is the small House of Siwa Museum, which contains a modest display of traditional clothing, jewellery and crafts typical of the oasis. It was inspired by a Canadian diplomat who feared that Siwan culture and its mud-brick houses would disappear in a flood of poured cement and modernity. You can arrange to see the museum through the tourist office or find the custodian at the nearby Town Council Building.

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  4. Temple of the Oracle

    Before Shali was founded in the 13th century, Siwa's main settlement was at Aghurmi, 4km east of the present town of Siwa. It was here that in 331 BC Alexander the Great consulted the oracle at the 26th-dynasty Temple of the Oracle . Built in the 6th century BC, probably on top of an earlier temple, it was dedicated to Amun (occasionally referred to as Zeus or Jupiter Ammon) and was a powerful symbol of the town's wealth.

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  5. Temple of Umm Ubayd

    Dedicated to Amun. This was originally connected to the Temple of the Oracle by a causeway and was used during oracle rituals. Early drawings have revealed that the structure was built by Nectanebo II during the 30th dynasty. Nineteenth-century travellers saw more of it than we can: a Siwan governor in need of building material blew up the temple in 1896 to construct the town's modern mosque and police building. Today only part of a wall covered with inscriptions survives.

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