Kharga Oasis
The Necropolis Of Bagawat Holds Some Two Hundred And Sixty Mud Brick Chapels From The Fourth To Sixth Centuries, Several With Painted Ceilings Of Exodus And Adam And Eve That Are Among The Oldest Christian Paintings Anywhere And The Persian Era Temple Of Hibis And A Chain Of Mud Fortresses Stand Along The Caravan Road South · Kharga, New Valley
Kharga is the southernmost and least visited of Egypt's Western Desert oases, strung along the old Darb el-Arbain - the Forty Days Road, the caravan route that carried slaves and goods from Sudan to the Nile for a thousand years - and the chain of mud fortresses along it was built to guard exactly that traffic. The reason to come is the Necropolis of Bagawat, a hillside of something like two hundred and sixty mud-brick funeral chapels from the fourth to sixth centuries, several of them with painted ceilings: Adam and Eve, the Exodus, Isaiah, Jonah, drawn in a plain early style that is among the oldest Christian painting anywhere and is still here, unglazed and barely guarded, in a desert necropolis with nobody in it. Nearby the temple of Hibis, built under Persian rule, has had a long restoration. It is a hard place to reach and a hot one, and what is in it is out of all proportion to the number of people who see it.
The southernmost Western Desert oasis, 200 km south-east of Dakhla on the old Darb el-Arbain caravan road, Kharga, New Valley, Egypt
Bagawat and Hibis keep daylight hours with tickets, and the practical question is whether the painted chapels are unlocked - several are, by a caretaker who holds the keys, and which ones varies; ask at the ticket office rather than at the chapel door. Hibis temple has been closed for long periods during restoration and whether it has reopened is worth confirming in Kharga town before driving out. The fortresses along the caravan road south are open ground. There is no cafe at any of the sites. Buses from Cairo via Asyut take eight to ten hours, from Dakhla about four, and Luxor is about five hours east across the desert; within the oasis a car or a hired driver is necessary because the sites are spread over tens of kilometres.