Mit Rahina

Cairo Outskirts & the Nile Delta

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The only remaining evidence of Memphis is this noteworthy open-air museum, built around a magnificent fallen colossal limestone statue of Ramses II. Its position on its back gives a great opportunity to inspect the carving up close – even the pharaoh’s nipples are very precise. Its twin is the statue that stood in Midan Ramses in Cairo until 2006 when it was moved to stand guard by the Grand Egyptian Museum construction site.

Other highlights of the museum include an alabaster sphinx of the New Kingdom, two statues of Ramses II that originally adorned Nubian temples, and the huge stone beds on which the sacred Apis bulls were mummified before being placed in the Serapeum at Saqqara.

Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

  • Pyramids of Giza during sunset.

    Pyramids of Giza

    9.17 MILES

    The last remaining wonder of the ancient world; for nearly 4000 years, the extraordinary shape, impeccable geometry and sheer bulk of the Giza Pyramids…

  • A guide briefs tourists before canopic jars which contained the organs of the ancient Egyptian New Kingdom Pharaoh Tutankhamun (1332-1323 BC) at his tomb KV62, displayed with the Tutankhamun collection at the Egyptian Museum in the centre of Egypt's capital Cairo on November 6, 2022. - The resting place of Egypt's pharaoh Tutankhamun has become the world's most famous tomb, its discovery 100 years ago among the greatest archaeological discoveries of all time.

    Egyptian Museum

    11.8 MILES

    One of the world’s most important collections of ancient artefacts, the Egyptian Museum takes pride of place in Downtown Cairo, on the north side of Midan…

  • It is the most remarkable construction of the necropolis of Saqqara, south of the city of Memphis. Some tourists walk next to the pyramid..Saqqara, Egypt. March 27, 2008

    Saqqara

    0.85 MILES

    Covering a 7km stretch of the Western Desert, Saqqara, the huge cemetery of ancient Memphis, was an active burial ground for more than 3500 years and is…

  • Cairo, Egypt - October 26, 2019: Museum of Islamic Art in Cairo; Shutterstock ID 1557780782; your: Sloane Tucker; gl: 65050; netsuite: Online Editorial; full: POI 1557780782

    Museum of Islamic Art

    11.61 MILES

    This museum, on the edge of Islamic Cairo, holds one of the world’s finest collections of Islamic art and is Egypt's (and one of the entire Middle East's)…

  • Al-Azhar mosque in Cairo.

    Al Azhar Mosque

    11.81 MILES

    Founded in AD 970 as the centrepiece of the newly created Fatimid city, Al Azhar is one of Cairo’s earlier mosques, and its sheikh is considered the…

  • The minaret of Qalawun complex rises over Al-Muizz street.

    Sharia Al Muizz Li Din Allah

    11.86 MILES

    Sharia Al Muizz, as it’s usually called, named after the Fatimid caliph who conquered Cairo in AD 969, was Cairo's grand thoroughfare, once chock-a-block…

  • The Coptic Museum in Cairo, Egypt.

    Coptic Museum

    8.91 MILES

    This museum, founded in 1908, houses Coptic art from the earliest days of Christianity in Egypt right through to early Islam. It is a beautiful place, as…

  • The tomb of Ti at the Step pyramid of Djoser funerary complex in Saqqara, Egypt.

    Mastaba of Ti

    1.16 MILES

    The Mastaba of Ti was discovered by Auguste Mariette in 1865. This grand and detailed private tomb is not only Old Kingdom art at its best but also one of…

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Nearby Cairo Outskirts & the Nile Delta attractions

1. Tomb of Ankhmahor

0.48 MILES

The tomb of Ankhmahor contains similar precise friezes to the Tomb of Kagemni, but is closed because of deteriorating conditions.

2. Tomb of Kagemni

0.57 MILES

The plump-looking chief justice under Teti, Kagemni appears in his own mastaba tomb as though he enjoyed the riches of the land, if the splendid and…

3. Pyramid of Teti

0.59 MILES

The Pyramid of Teti (2345–2323 BC), the first pharaoh of the 6th dynasty, was built in step form and cased in limestone, but today only a modest mound…

4. Tomb of Mereruka

0.62 MILES

Mereruka was the successor to Kagemni as Pharaoh Titi's chief justice and his tomb, like Kagemni's, is full of preserved reliefs of daily life. Some of…

5. Pyramid of Userkaf

0.79 MILES

Northeast of the Step Pyramid is the Pyramid of Userkaf, the first pharaoh of the 5th dynasty (closed to the public for safety reasons). Although the…

6. Saqqara

0.85 MILES

Covering a 7km stretch of the Western Desert, Saqqara, the huge cemetery of ancient Memphis, was an active burial ground for more than 3500 years and is…

7. Step Pyramid of Zoser

0.97 MILES

In the year 2650 BC, Pharaoh Zoser (2667–2648 BC) asked his chief architect, Imhotep (later deified), to build him a Step Pyramid. This is the world's…

8. Monastery of St Jeremiah

1.02 MILES

Uphill from the causeway of Unas, southeast of the boat pits, are the half-buried remains of this Coptic monastery, which dates from the 5th century AD…