Description: The Catacombs of Kom el-Shugafa date back to the early 2nd century BC during the time the Romans occupied Egypt. Before entering the catacombs, be sure to check out the many statues that are on the grounds of this site. Some of the statues are from the Greco-Roman period, and a few are from the times of the pharaohs. Many of the statues were found elsewhere during excavations for building the current city of Alexandria and were moved to this site to be displayed.
You enter the catacombs via a spiraling staircase that takes you down three levels and curls around an opening that was once used to lower the bodies for burial. At the end of the stairs, there was another well-like hole that was used for lowering the bodies even further, but it is now filled mostly with sand to soak up the water that has seeped into the lower levels of the catacombs.
Once down in the catacombs, there are few major rooms to visit. The first room we went into was the tomb of a husband and wife. It was a tomb from the time of the Romans, but the paintings on the walls resembled Ancient Egyptian art. On each side of the entrance to the tomb was a painting of the two buried there.
Another room we saw was what is called the Banquet Room. This is where the living friends and family ate when they visited the dead. When the catacombs were rediscovered, they found this room full of broken dishes. It was considered bad luck to reuse the same dishes used to eat near the dead, so the dishes were broken and left in the Banquet Room. After many years, it became a large pile, which has now been removed.
Admission price was 20 Egyptian pounds (less than US$4) when I visited.
Note: When we visited, cameras and camcorders were not allowed past the security gate. Our guide said that it is a flexible rule. One day it will be enforced, the next it will not.
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