Nilometer of Rhoda

The nilometer was built in 861 and is one of the oldest Islamic structures in Egypt still standing in something like its original form. It is a square stone-lined pit sunk below river level with a graduated octagonal column rising through the middle, and three tunnels connecting it to the Nile so that the water inside matched the river outside. Officials read the column each summer during the flood and the number mattered enormously: too low meant famine, too high meant destruction, and a good reading was announced publicly and used to set the tax rate for the year. The Kufic inscriptions running around the walls are among the earliest surviving in Egypt. The Aswan dams ended the flood cycle, so the pit is now dry and the whole apparatus is a monument to a river that no longer behaves that way.

What you actually see

• The graduated column - the measuring stick that set the annual tax.
• Kufic inscriptions - among the oldest Islamic inscriptions in Egypt.
• The stone pit and tunnels - the shaft cut below river level.
• The conical roof pavilion - a later cover over the shaft.

When to go

October to April. It takes an hour and is almost never busy. Combining it with Manial Palace at the other end of the same island makes a half-day. The interior is cool at any season.

Honest expectations

It is small and there is little interpretation, so the significance has to be brought with you. The shaft is dry and the stair down is steep and slippery. Opening hours are unreliable and the ticket office is sometimes unstaffed. There is nothing else at this end of the island.

Nearby

Manial Palace is at the north of Rhoda; Coptic Cairo lies across the eastern channel.