The Egyptian city of "wolves" .. a journey in history and ancient churches

It was known in the past as the city of wolves, and it was at the time of the Pharaohs, the main artery of Africa’s trade with the Nile Valley.

It is Assiut, one of the largest governorates of Upper Egypt, overlooking the immortal Nile River, about 400 km away from the capital, and that city has multiple archaeological monuments, on a date with visitors from different countries of the world, after its authorities have completed all measures to transfer The path of the Holy Family located within the borders of the governorate to a tourist attraction, next to the restoration of the tombs of the Mir Pharaonic region.

Ayman Abu Zaid, head of the Egyptian Association for Tourism and Archeology Development, said that about 25 million Egyptian pounds had been approved to develop services and roads at the stations of the Holy Family’s journey in Assiut, and the roads leading to the Monastery of the Virgin Mary, the “Monastery of Muharraq” in Qusiya, which is the monastery that witnessed the last Stations of the Holy Family's trip to Egypt.

According to AbuZayd, the "burned monastery" is considered the largest and greatest of the Egyptian monasteries, as it was established in the fourth century AD, but the archaeological church returns it to the end of the first century, which is the abandoned house inhabited by the Holy Family.

The process of developing the path of the Holy Family in Assiut comes within a plan developed by the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism to develop 25 stations of the Holy Family’s trip to Egypt, during its transfer from Palestine to Egypt and from Egypt to Palestine, a journey that spanned 3,500 km.

Abu Zayd indicated that Assiut Governorate's plans to transform into a tourist city included the opening and inauguration of a cave and the shrine of the Holy Family’s trip in Deir Darnaka, the completion of the renovations of the Virgin Mary’s Lady of Moving in Deir Darnaka, and the completion of the renewal of the Al-Maghara Church that was built in the European rural style from the beginning of the twentieth century on Ruins of an ancient church.

Abu Zaid added that the Cave Church is a cave below the Great Church in the monastery, and it consists of several rooms that the Holy Family is likely to have landed on during their stay in Assiut before returning again to Palestine.

In the past, the Monastery of Muharraq included five churches in addition to the Al-Hosn Church, but two of them disappeared, namely the Church of St. John the Baptist and the Church of Saint Takal Himanot.

According to AbuZayd, what remains is the archaeological Church of the Virgin Mary, which is now located in the interior of the monastery, and is older than the monastery and dates back to the first century AD, and it is believed that it is the first church that was established in all of Egypt, where the cave inhabited by the Holy Family and built six months and a few days.

According to AbuZayd, there is the Church of the Fort or the Church of Owner Michael, which is a very small church, its entrance to the tribal side, as well as the Church of St. George, located to the south of the ancient church, in addition to the new St. George Church, which was founded in 1940.

Capital

Throughout the ages, Assiut was the capital of the thirteenth province of Upper Egypt, and Assiut was established at the top of the caravan road linking the Nile to the outer oases, then with Darfur in Sudan, and then it served as a gateway to trade between Africa and the Nile Valley, and Egyptologists believe that Assiut was An ancient fortress at the dawn of history.

«Slaughterhouse»

In the era of the 18th Dynasty in ancient Egypt, the Assiut priests began to bury their sacred animal «and poowot» in one of the tombs of the middle state, a cemetery known today as the “slaughterhouse”, and perhaps this name was given because it was used in the mummification process, and it was found in that tomb Many mummies.