Photo : isawnyu — CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
The oases and the Western Desert · Kharga
Al-Bagawat Necropolis
A Christian cemetery of vaulted mud-brick chapels, their walls covered in Greek graffiti.
The necropolis spreads over a gravel slope north of Kharga town: hundreds of mud-brick funerary chapels under domes and barrel vaults, packed so close that they form lanes. The cemetery served a Christian community in the oasis from the fourth to the seventh century, and the architecture is local: earth, arches, niches, façades with engaged half-columns. Two chapels have kept their paintings — the one known as the Chapel of the Exodus, with the flight from Egypt and a row of biblical scenes, and the Chapel of Peace, where the figures carry their names in Greek. Elsewhere, the writing is the visitors' own: the plaster of the vaults is covered in Greek graffiti, some drawn in charcoal, some scratched in, and they now belong to the monument.
The extra bit
The keys to the two painted chapels are with the guardian: find him at the ticket window before you walk up the slope, or you will do a circuit of locked domes. Name them — the Exodus and Peace — those are the two names people use here.
Know before you go
On the slope there is no shade and no water, and the gravel heats up: closed shoes and a bottle each. Inside, the painted plaster is flaking and the lightest touch damages it, so do not touch it and do not lean on the walls. The old graffiti are part of the monument; yours would be vandalism, and it is punished. Flash is usually banned in front of the paintings and photography may carry a ticket of its own: ask at the window, and bring cash. The ruined monastery above the cemetery is not always open — ask the guardian rather than climbing up on the off chance.
