Tourist Attractions and places to visit in Aswan:     Back

Elephantine Island: Elephantine Island, just outside the centre of Aswan, is one of the highlights of Egyptian nature. Dark yellow stones, where green trees grow out of nothing, framed by the sky that's always blue, and the Nile, even more blue. Elephantine Island housed a sizable Jewish community some 400-500 years BCE, but it remains an enigma what happened to them. On the other side of the Nile, the western, you can see the Aga Khan mausoleum, which is very new, but has it's charm through being the shrine over the celebrity-imam dying in 1957. And it's one of the few landmarks in the nearest vicinity of Aswan.

Known to the Ancient Egyptians as Abu or Yebu, Elephantine stands at the border between Egypt and Nubia. It was a natural transshipping point for river trade, and, as an island, also provided an excellent defensive site for a city. According to Egyptian mythology, here was the dwelling place of Khnum, the ram-headed god of the cataracts, who controlled the waters of the Nile from caves beneath the island: he was worshipped here as part of a Triad comprising him, his wife Satis, and their daughter Anuket. There are records of a temple to Khnum here as early as the third dynasty, and most of the southern tip of the island is taken up by the ruins of the later temple to him that was completely rebuilt in the Late Period (30th dynasty).
 

The High Dam: Located near Aswan, the world famous High Dam was an engineering miracle when it was built in the 1960s. It contains 18 times the material used in the Great Pyramid of Cheops.  The Dam is 11,811 feet long, 3215 feet thick at the base and and 364 feet tall. Today it provides irrigation and electricity for the whole of Egypt and, together with the old Aswan Dam built by the British between 1898 and 1902`, 6km down river, wonderful views for visitors. From the top of the two Mile long High Dam you can gaze across Lake Nassar, the huge reservoir created when it was built, to Kalabsha temple in the south and the huge power station to the north. 

The Unfinished Obelisk: The Unfinished Obelisk located in the Northern Quarry still lies where a crack was discovered as it was being hewn from the rock. Possibly intended as a companion to the Lateran Obelisk, originally at Karnak but now in Rome, it would have weighed over 2.3 million pounds and would have been the worlds largest piece of stone ever handled. However, a crack in the stone occurred, which caused it to be abandoned. Tools left by it's builders have given us much insight into how such work was performed. The site has recently been renovated and equipped with tourist facilities. Nearby is the Fatimid Cemetery.

Tha Agha Khan Tomb (Symbol of Love): The Aga Khan was extremely wealthy. On his birthday in 1945, he was weighed in diamonds which he then distributed to his followers. It should be noted, also, that he was a large man. Every day that his widow was at the Villa, she places a Red Rose on his white Carrara marble tomb. His widow, Omme Habibeh, popularly referred to as "The Begum" died on July 1st, 2000. The other months, a gardener fills this function, and it has been rumored that at one point, not a single rose could be found in Egypt, so for almost a week, roses were flown in from Paris by private jet.

Mohammed Shah Aga Khan was educated in Europe and succeeded his father in 1885 to become the 48th imam. He was succeeded by his grandson, Karim AGa Khan upon his death in 1957.

The Philae temple (Isis Temple): On a small island in the Nile near Aswan stands the amazing Temple of Isis at Philae. This monument is possibly best known for the international effort which moved it in it's entirety to the island when it's original location was threatened by the change in water level caused by the High Dam.