Nag el-Deir Attractions

Opposite Girga on the east bank, at Nag el-Deir, are a number of cemeteries, some of them dating from prehistoric times. Near by is the old Coptic Monastery of Deir el-Malak, with a large cemetery in which the Christian inhabitants of Girga are still buried. Beyond the village the hills of the Eastern Desert approach close to the river. Among the many tombs in the hills are four Old Kingdom tombs, situated high up on the slopes of a hill, belonging to dignitaries of the city of This: only scanty remains of reliefs and inscriptions survive. 3mi/5km farther south, in the village of Mesheikh, which occupies the site of ancient Lepidoptonpolis, are the remains of a temple built by Ramesses II and rebuilt by Merneptah. Above the village are rock tombs, including one which belonged to a High Priest of This, Enhermose, in the reign of Merneptah (19th Dynasty).