Deir el-Hagar

Deir el-Hagar, the stone monastery in Arabic although it was never one, is a sandstone temple built in the first century AD under Nero and decorated under Vespasian, Titus and Domitian, dedicated to the Theban triad of Amun, Mut and Khonsu. It stands at the western end of the Dakhla cultivation with dunes and open desert behind it, and it was excavated and restored in the 1990s in a Canadian and Egyptian project that re-erected fallen columns and consolidated the walls, so the sanctuary, hall and enclosure now read clearly. Inside are ceiling decorations and cartouches of the Roman emperors written as pharaohs. On the walls and columns are the names of nineteenth-century European explorers, including Rohlfs and members of his expedition, carved as graffiti.

Highlights

• A restored Roman temple - columns re-erected in the 1990s.
• Emperors written as pharaohs - Nero and the Flavians in cartouches.
• Explorers' graffiti - nineteenth-century names cut into the stone.
• Dunes behind the enclosure - the desert edge pressing on the temple.

When to go

October to April. One hour, combined with Al-Qasr and Muzawaka on a western Dakhla circuit. Late afternoon gives the best light on the sandstone and the dunes behind.

What to expect

It is small and takes under an hour. The site is fenced and depends on a guard being present. There is no shade or water. The graffiti of Victorian explorers, which the guides point out with pride, is the same vandalism modern visitors are told not to commit.

Nearby

Al-Qasr is a short drive east; the Muzawaka tombs are nearby.

Key facts