Fatimid Cemetery (Aswan)

About this place

The Fatimid Cemetery in Aswan is an old Islamic burial ground of mud-brick domes scattered over sandy hills beside the Nubian Museum, among the oldest surviving Islamic cemeteries in Egypt. Aswan's Fatimid-era burial grounds fall into two parts: the southern cemetery on the dam road, which visitors come to see, and a northern one in the Anani area. Many of its domes are dated to the 4th Islamic century, or roughly the 10th century AD. They matter as a record of how the funerary dome developed in Egypt, preserving forms that rarely survive elsewhere. In 2014 the antiquities minister Mamdouh el-Damaty and the German ambassador opened six restored tombs. The domes stand out for their eight-sided drums, with projecting corners known as horns, a feature you can see up close. Most rest on plain square bases of mud brick, with domeless graves and quiet sandy paths in between. Don't expect rich carving: the beauty lies in the simplicity, the setting and the look of the domes in early morning or late afternoon light. The cemetery lies 400 m from the Nubian Museum, an easy walk that pairs the two, and 1.5 km south-west of central Aswan in a straight line. This is a burial ground, so keep your voice low and be respectful. Allow 30 to 60 minutes.