The city of Luxor in southern Egypt is considered one of the largest open museums around the world, which includes a third of the world’s monuments throughout history, as the city includes stone temples as Karnak Temple, inscriptions, drawings and tombs in the stone mountains of prehistoric times by Day Trip to Luxor from Soma bay Egypt.
Luxor was the capital of the modern state in the ancient civilization of Egypt and was in the name of Thebes from the period 1570-c. 1069 BCE and was approved as an important archaeological site by the UNESCO World Heritage Organization in 1979 AD.
Activities in Luxor:
- Luxor Museum
- Mummification Museum
- Luxor Temple
- The Colossi of Memnon
- Medinet Habu
- Valley of the Kings
- Temple of Hatshepsut
Activities in Aswan:
- Aswan Museum
- Nubian Museum
- The Temple of Kom Ombo
- Kalabsha Temple
- Temple of Edfu
- Temple of Abu Simbel
- The Temple of Philae
- The unfinished obelisk
- Seheil Island
- Elephantine Island
- Lake Nasser
- Aswan Botanical Garden
- High Dam
- Agilkia Island
Aga Khan lll best cultural heritage in Aswan
Was born on the 2nd of November 1877 and was the forty-eighth Imam of the Ismaili sect from1885 until his death on 11 July 1957
Aga Khan III received religious and eastern education as well as Western education where he studied at Eton College and at the University of Cambridge. The leadership of the Nizari Ismaili community succeeded his father when he was 7 years old
He was awarded honorary degrees and was honored by a number of rulers and kings such as Queen Victoria, King Edward VII, King George V, Emperor of Germany, Sultan of Ottoman Turkey and Shah of Iran.
In addition, Aga Khan III was one of the founders of the All-India Muslim League in 1906, and was its first president. The League is a political party that called for the establishment of an independent Islamic state in the northwestern parts of the Indian subcontinent under British colonial rule. It was later formed, Pakistan in 1947.
Aga Khan III supported the Allies during the First World War. He also represented India in the General Assembly of the League of Nations in 1932 and also between 1934 and 1937. He also assumed the presidency of the League of Nations itself between 1937 and 1938.
In the first half of the 20th century, under the leadership of Aga Khan III, the Ismaili community experienced many social and economic development projects in East Africa and South Asia.
The Jubilee celebrations were marked by the anniversary of Aga Khan III’s assumption of the position of imamate. Where he celebrated his golden Jubilee in 1937, his Diamond Jubilee in 1946 and his platinum Jubilee in 1954. In those celebrations, the imam was weighed in gold, diamonds and platinum.
He withdrew from political life during World War II and moved to Switzerland.
Aga Khan suffered from rheumatism and bone pain, and the world’s greatest doctors did not succeed in treating him.
A friend advised him to visit Aswan, visiting her in 1954, accompanied by his wife, his entourage and a large group of Ismaili followers.
At the time, Aga Khan was unable to walk and was using a wheelchair. He was staying at the Old Cataract Hotel,
One of the elders of Nubia advised him about natural healing to bury half of his lower body in the sands of Aswan for three hours a day for a week.
The Aga Khan followed the advice of the Nubian Sheikh amid the irony and indignation of foreign doctors. A week after the daily burial, Aga Khan returned to the hotel walking on his feet.
Aga Khan decided to visit Aswan every winter and asked the governor of Aswan to buy the area he was treating. The governor of Aswan agreed to the request. Aga Khan brought the engineers, architects and workers to build a graveyard to commemorate him in the area he was sick of.
He died on 11 July 1957 and was buried in his tomb in Aswan, Egypt. He was succeeded by his grandson Karim Aga Khan, who was known as Aga Khan IV.
After his death, his wife Begum Um Habib appointed a guard to put a rose every day on his grave until she died and was buried next to him in 1999
His vella house and his marble mausoleum still very well preserved located opposite to cataract hotel to the west side of Aswan.
No visitors allowed to get in now but you can have a felucca or motor Boat tour around it to feel such a beautiful history on these buildings.
