Temple of Nadura - Kharga Oasis
The New Valley Governorate is one of the governorates that witnessed many of the ancient historical eras that the valley oases went through, and this region witnessed development and prosperity in the various eras of Egyptian history, Pharaonic, Greek, Roman, Coptic and Islamic. Therefore, the three oases: Kharga, Dakhla and Farafra include dozens of archaeological sites between temples, tombs, buildings, remains, cities and paths.
In the Kharga Oasis, there is an ancient temple called "Al-Nadura", which is an ancient temple located in the Kharga Oasis in the New Valley Governorate. It used to be the meeting place for all the commercial caravans that came via the Forty-Day Road in the Paris Oasis, starting from Darfur in Sudan to Assiut. It was also used as a fortress and a place for collecting taxes and providing provisions for the commercial caravans that passed by the temple.
The Nadura Temple is located about 2 km north of Kharga city and about 1 km southeast of Hibis Temple. The temple was built on a hill high above the surrounding land. It can be seen from a distance of 5 km due to its height and can be seen from several places within the Kharga Oasis.
The Nadura Temple is considered the oldest observation post in the oases. Whoever climbed this place to survey the surrounding points was called “Nadurji,” which was a job title at that time. This word is still used today and is an Arabic term.
The name of Nadura in the Arab era came from its use as a monitoring point for the caravans passing in ancient times on the Forty-Day Road. This is the important trade route that connected Egypt at Asyut to Darfur in Sudan, passing through the Kharga Oasis. Those climbing the hill can see a large area of the Kharga Oasis.
The Nadora Temple was built in the Roman era as a lookout point and a site to protect the ancient Kharga Oasis from the attacks and raids that thieves carried out from time to time on the people of the oases.
There is also another area in Egypt called Karam Nadora located in Alexandria Governorate, which distinguished the city of Alexandria at the end of the Ottoman era. It is an accumulated earthen mound that was formed over several eras starting from the Ayyubid era. A number of Islamic figures were buried in it, such as Al-Hafiz Al-Salfi, Abu Bakr Al-Tartushi, and Abd Al-Rahman bin Hormuz Al-Tabi’i