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  • Al-Hakim be Aamr Ellah Mosque

    Mosque of al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah

    Al-Hakim Amr Allah Mosque, located on Al-Moez Street in Old Cairo, is a prominent Fatimid landmark and the fourth oldest surviving mosque in Egypt. Built in 380 AH during Al-Aziz Billah's reign, it was completed by his son in 403 AH (1012-1013 AD), making it the second largest mosque in Cairo after Ahmed Ibn Tulun Mosque. The mosque's name was attributed to him. The mosque, measuring 12005 meters in length and 113 meters in width, has two minarets at its sea front, surrounded by pyramid-shaped bases. The upper cubes are slightly backwards, and an octagonal minaret protrudes from each of the upper cubes.

  • Visit Queen Nefertari’s Tomb

    Tomb of Queen Nefertari

    There were also the great queens of the New Kingdom (1550-1090 BC) Nefertiti, the wife of Akhenaten (1371-1355 BC), and Nefertari, one of the celebrated eight wives of Ramses II (c. 1279-c. 1213 BC). While Nefertiti is more popular for the exquisite portrait bust of her that is located in Berlin, Nefertari is famous mostly for her large burial site situated in the Valley of the Queens.

  • tomb of Tutankhamun | Tutankhamun tomb discovery | king tut tomb pictures

    Tomb of Tutankhamun

    The Valley of the Kings, located on the Nile River's west bank near Thebes, served as a cemetery for pharaohs during the New Kingdom of Ancient Egyptians from 1539 to 1075 BC. The 20,000 square meter rocky valley houses 27 royal tombs from the 18th, 19th, and 20th Egyptian dynasties, which have been discovered to this day. Pharaoh Tutankhamun, also known as King Tut, was the last Eighteenth Dynasty Pharaoh from 1334 to 1325 B.C. He is famous for his intact tomb and treasures, unmarked grave, and premature death due to broken bones. His minister married his widow after his death.

  • the Virgin Mary’s tree.

    The Tree of Virgin Mary in Matareya

    The Coptic Orthodox Church commemorates the Feast of the Entry of the Holy Family into Egypt, a minor liturgical feast. It commemorates St. Joseph the Carpenter's obedience to an angel's command to take the child and his mother to Egypt, marking the entry of the Holy Family into the land of Egypt. The prayers begin on the eve of the liturgical day. The Maryam Tree Mazar, a significant tourist attraction in Egypt, is home to the Holy Family and has undergone significant development and renovations to maintain its historical significance.

  • Biography of Ahmad ibn Tulun

    Biography of Ahmad ibn Tulun

    Ahmad ibn Tulun's Turkish roots trace back to his father, who was a slave of Noah ibn Asad, the governor of Bukhara. Asad freed him, and Caliph Al-Ma'mun admired him. He was enrolled in the caliphate court and eventually became the head of the caliph's guard. Ahmad bin Tulun, born on September 20, 835 AD, in Baghdad, the capital of the caliphate, was well-cared for by his father, who taught him military arts, jurisprudence, hadith, and hadith, and encouraged him to learn from scholars and read the Qur'an.

  • Al Qusayr, Egypt | Al Quseir history

    Historical Background | Quseir Town

    The city of Al-Qusair is located on the western shore of the Red Sea in Egypt, 140 km south of Hurghada, and one of the most important villages of the city is Hamrawin village, with an area of 7,636 km², while its population is 50,023 people. Al-Qusayr, named after a fort that protected the nation during ancient Pharaonic, Roman, and other empires, was a hub for gold procurement by Pharaohs. Built by Sultan Selim I during the Ottoman period, the fortress remains intact.

King Mentuhotep II

Details about the final monarch of the 11th Dynasty, King Mentuhotep II

  • 05 16, 2023

King Mentuhotep

In his domestic policy, Mentuhotep II tried to centralize the power of government in his capital, limit the powers of the provincial governors, and prevent the hereditary succession of provincial rule. Mentuhotep II succeeded in what he wanted, and the title “great provincial governor” and other huge titles that the provincial governors assumed for themselves in the first transition era disappeared, and the provincial governors no longer carved their tombs in their regions, but carved most of their tombs around the tombs of the kings in the west of the capital, Thebes.

Mentuhotep II weeded out disloyal elements and appointed his own Theban employees to important positions in the state. One of these employees served as governor of Lower Egypt, a new position necessitated by the fact that the capital was located in Thebes in the south.

Regarding the foreign policy of King Mentuhotep II, he sent an expedition to the Hammamet Valley that eliminated the sources of riots in this area, and he also reopened the road to the turquoise mines in Sinai, and regarding Egypt's western borders, he sent an expedition to the Libyan Tahnu tribes that managed to kill the leader of this tribe, and tried to restore the influence that Egypt had in Nubia at the end of the Sixth Dynasty.

Mentuhotep II ordered the construction of many temples, of which only a few have survived. Most of them were in Upper Egypt, specifically in Abydos, Aswan, Tod, Arment, Arment, Al-Jabalin, Kaab, Karnak, and Dendera. In accomplishing this, Mentuhotep followed a tradition started by his grandfather Intef II: Royal building activities in the regional temples of Upper Egypt began during the reign of Intef II and continued throughout the Middle Kingdom.


King Mentuhotep II was buried in the Theban necropolis at Deir el-Bahri. His funerary temple was one of the most ambitious architectural projects, incorporating many architectural and religious innovations. It contained covered terraces and corridors around the central building.

It was the first funerary temple in which the king was represented as Osir. His temple inspired the temples that came after him, such as the temple of Hatshepsut and the temple of Thutmose III of the Eighteenth Dynasty. The remains of his temple in Deir el-Bahri can still be found next to Hatshepsut's temple.

His most famous statue was found by Howard Carter - the discoverer of Tutankhamun's tomb - in 1900 by accident, when his horse stumbled into the outer courtyard of the king's funerary temple in Deir el-Bahri, west of Luxor. Carter found a well that led to a small chamber where he found this statue wrapped in linen.

In the statue, the king wears a red crown and a knitted robe for the Jubilee Year of Love Sid, which was celebrated after thirty years of the king's reign. The statue's body is colored black and its arms are crossed at the chest to associate it with Osiris, the god of death, fertility, and rebirth.

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Many temples were ordered by Mentuhotep II, but only a few remain standing today. One of the well-preserved relics found is the funerary structure, discovered in Abydos in 2014. The rest of the temple ruins are located in Upper Egypt, specifically in Abydos, Aswan, Tod, Armant, Jebelein, El-kab, Karnak, and Dendera.

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