Etiqueta: aswan

  • Aswan High Dam

    Aswan High Dam

    About

    Building on the success of the Low Dam, which was then in full use, the construction of the High Dam became a key government goal after the Egyptian Revolution of 1952. With its ability to better control flooding, store more water for irrigation, and generate hydroelectric power, the dam was seen as crucial to Egypt’s planned industrialization. it could be kept for several years for later publication.

    Construction history

    The first recorded attempt to build a dam near Aswan was in the 11th century when the Arab scholar and engineer Ibn al-Haytham (known in the West as Alhazen) was ordered by the Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim bi nach Egypt was invoked -Amr Allah to regulate the flooding of the Nile, a task that required an early attempt at an Aswan dam. His fieldwork convinced him of the impracticability of this scheme.

    Aswan Low Dam (1898–1902)

    The British began building the first dam across the Nile in 1898. Construction lasted until 1902 and the dam opened on December 10, 1902. The project was designed by Sir William Willcocks and involved a number of outstanding engineers including Sir Benjamin Baker and Sir John Aird, whose company John Aird & Co. was the main contractor

    Aswan High Dam prelude (1954–1960)

    The Free Officers were convinced that the water of the Nile had to be stored in Egypt for political reasons, and within two months Daninos’ plan was approved.Initially, both the United States and the USSR were interested in supporting the development of the dam. The United States and United Kingdom offered to finance the construction of the high dam with a $270 million loan in exchange for Nasser’s leadership in resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict. Egyptian President Nasser and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev at the ceremony to divert the Nile during the construction of the Aswan High Dam, May 14, 1964.

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    • Aswan High Dam
    • Aswan High Dam
    • Aswan High Dam
    • Aswan High Dam
    • Aswan High Dam
    • Aswan High Dam
    • Aswan High Dam
    • Aswan High Dam Maps
    • Aswan High Dam Maps

    Construction and filling (1960–1976)

    The Soviets also provided technicians and heavy machinery. The huge stone and clay dam was designed by the Soviet Hydroelectric Projects Institute together with some Egyptian engineers. 25,000 Egyptian engineers and workers contributed to the construction of the dams. The project was led by Osman Ahmed Osman’s Arab Contractors. The relatively young Osman offered half less than his only competitor.

    1960: Construction began on January 9, 1964: The construction phase of the first dam was completed, the reservoir began to fill up. 1970: The High Dam, as-Sad al-‘Aali, was completed on July 21, 1976: the reservoir has reached its capacity

    Specifications

    The Aswan High Dam is 4,000 m (13,000 ft) long, 980 m (3,220 ft) wide at the base, 40 m (130 ft) wide at the top and 111 m (364 ft) deep, high or high. A maximum of 11,000 cubic meters per second (390,000 cu ft/s) of water can flow through the dam. There are other emergency spillways for an additional 5,000 cubic meters per second (180,000 cu ft/s), and the Toshka Canal connects the reservoir to the Toshka Depression. It contains 132 cubic kilometers (1.73 × 1011 yd3) of water.

    Irrigation scheme

    The Aswan High Dam releases an average of 55 cubic kilometers (45,000,000 acre⋅ft) of water per year, of which about 46 cubic kilometers (37,000,000 acre⋅ft) is diverted into the canals. In the Nile Valley and Delta, nearly 336,000 square kilometers (130,000 sq mi) benefit from these waters, producing an average of 1.8 crops per year. a large number of underground drainage projects carried out in recent decades to control groundwater levels and soil salinity.

    Effects

    The high dam has resulted in protection from floods and droughts, increased agricultural production and employment, electricity generation and improved shipping, which also benefits tourism. One estimate put the annual economic benefit of the high dam immediately after its completion was 255 million LE, US$587 million using the 1970 exchange rate of US$2.30 per 1 LE): 140 million LE agricultural production, 100 million LE hydroelectric power generation, 10 LE million flood protection and LE 5 million improved navigation.

    Drought protection, agricultural production and employment

    The High Dam enabled Egypt to recover around 2.0 million feddan (840,000 hectares) in the Nile Delta and along the Nile Valley, increasing the country’s irrigated area by a third. and by managing 385,000 hectares (950,000 acres) formerly used as flood control reservoirs, about half a million families settled on these new lands. -flow periods. For example, wheat yields in Egypt tripled between 1952 and 1991, and better water availability contributed to this increase.

    Electricity production

    The dam powers twelve generators each rated at 175 megawatts (235,000 hp) for a total of 2.1 gigawatts (2,800,000 hp). percent in 1998) and gave most Egyptian villages the use of electricity for the first time.


  • Mausoleum of Aga Khan

    Mausoleum of Aga Khan

    About

    Aga Khan Mausoleum is the mausoleum of Aga Khan III, Sir Sultan Muhammed Shah who died in 1957. The mausoleum is located in Aswan on the Egyptian Nile, since Egypt used to be the center of power for the Fatimids, an Ismaili Shia dynasty. Construction of the mausoleum began in 1956 and ended in 1960. The Aga Khan’s wife, Begum Om Habibeh Aga Khan, commissioned the construction of the mausoleum, which initially housed tourists; however, the interior was closed to the public in 1997. Every day a red rose is placed on the tomb of the Aga Khan, a practice first started by Begum Om Habibeh Aga Khan.

    Architect

    The Egyptian architect Farid Shafi’e (1907-1985) designed the mausoleum, who worked as an architectural designer throughout his career; Professor and Head of the Faculty of Architecture at Cairo University; and, among others, advisors to King Abdulaziz University.[6] Other buildings designed by Farid Shafie during his career include the Royal Navy Headquarters in Cairo; the office of the Sheikh in the Al-Azhar Mosque; and a royal suite at Cairo’s Abdeen Palace. Farid Shafi’e published numerous magazine articles and books during his career, including an article on the Masjid al-Juyushi, the Fatimid building for which the mausoleum of Aga Khan III was designed in ,Some of the Shafi His other publications include Characteristics of Decorated Wood in the Abbasid and Fatimid Styles (1954); Islamic Arabic Architecture: Its Past, Present, and Future (1981); and Arab Architecture in Islamic Egypt, Volume 2: The Fatimid Era (1982).[8] Shafi’e’s previous publications indicate that he studied Fatimid architecture extensively before designing the mausoleum of Aga Khan III

    Influences on style

    The Mausoleum of Aga Khan III was designed to resemble the Masjid al-Juyushi, a Fatimid mosque and dedicated mausoleum built in 1085. It has a central dome and numerous smaller domes. Like Masjid al-Juyushi, the mausoleum of Aga Khan III has an inner mihrab for prayer. Despite numerous functional and aesthetic similarities, the mausoleum of Aga Khan III does not share some of the Masjid al-Juyushi’s most revered features, such as: B. the minaret, the muqarnas cornice or the inner courtyard. Based on aesthetic similarities, the architectural style of the
    Aga Khan III Mausoleum may also have sought inspiration from other examples of Fatimid architecture, such as the Aswan Necropolis, a series of tombs built between the 10th and 12th centuries.

    Both the Mausoleum of Aga Khan III and the Aswan Necropolis feature domes with octagonal transition zones, archways, mihrabs and building materials that blend into the surrounding desert environment (the tombs in the Aswan Necropolis were mainly built of mud brick and lined ). with lime plaster).

    Exterior Design

    The Aga Khan III Mausoleum is built of pink limestone, with crenellated parapets lining the outer wall, and an arched doorway on the west side of the mausoleum serves as the only entrance to the mausoleum’s interior. The east side of the mausoleum features a large central dome with arched tracery windows along the octagonal drum. There are four miniature domes at each corner of the outer wall.

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    Interior Design

    Quranic inscriptions adorn the interior of the tomb of Aga Khan III, which is made of Carrara marble. The plan of the mausoleum shows that the tomb faces a mihrab located under the central dome on the east wall of the mausoleum.

    Burial of Aga Khan III

    Aga Khan III was reburied in the mausoleum on February 20, 1959, two years after his death and his first burial in Switzerland. Attendees include Aga Khan IV, Begum Om Habibeh Aga Khan and more than 2,000 other guests.] Begum Om Habibeh Aga Khan died in 2000 before being buried in her husband’s mausoleum next door

  • Elephantine Island

    Elephantine Island

    About

    Elephantine Island, one of the Nile Islands in Egypt, is located in the city of Aswan and has an area of ​​about 1,500 meters long and 500 meters wide. Most residents are Nubians. There is the Mövenpick Hotel, agricultural land consisting mainly of palm trees, the Aswan Museum and remains of stone temples from different eras.T

    population 

    The island has a population of 5,800, the vast majority of whom are Nubians (treasures) living in two villages in the center of the island, namely “Sio” and “Koti”. Most of them work in crafts, agriculture and tourism as they still keep the Nubian character in the sandy streets and colorful houses

    Why Is It Named ?

    The island was known in ancient Egyptian texts as «Abu», meaning (the elephant), as this island was an important port for receiving African ivory made from elephant tusks. Then it was transformed in the Greek language into the word «Elephantine» (elephas-ελέφας), meaning (ivory tooth of the elephant), which the island bears today. The island was a hub on the trade routes to southern Egypt, as well as the headquarters for all government, military, and commercial missions going south or returning home. Some also attribute the name to the island’s topography, which is shaped like a ram’s horn or an elephant’s tusk.

    Island Temples

    That the oldest construction work on the island took place at the end of Prehistory and lasted until the beginning of the Islamic era, which means that it encompasses the history of ancient Egypt in all eras up to the Greco-Roman period. Sat is the deity of the region, specifically the deity of the floods. The various ruling families built their temples. The first temple dates from the First and Second Dynasties, i.e. around 2800 BC. C., and the second temple dates from the beginning of the sixth dynasty. , me.

    around 2250 BC C., and the third was built by Senusret the First in 1950 a. C., and the fourth and last was built by Queen Hatshepsut in 1480 AD. C. There is also the temple of the god «Khnum».» the stones of which were plundered in earlier times, leaving only the pillars of the main entrance, and nearby is a ram’s graveyard for the god himself, and there are also stalls commemorating the rulers of Elephantine, the most important of them (Haqqa Ib), and additions continue throughout the modern state, and Elephantine continues to play its role during the late Egyptian era, when the kings of the 26 of the Nile appears in Greek and Arabic and was in use until recently, and after them the Ptolemy kings and some Roman emperors whose names were engraved on the temple walls.

    On the door of one of the southern halls of the temple are inscriptions depicting Alexander II in the form of an Egyptian king while offering sacrifices to the various gods, and his name is written in hieroglyphs, with the formula «Step-En -Re-Mari-Amun” (the one chosen by Ra and loved by him). Amon

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    Museum 

    The Elephantine Island Museum (Aswan Museum) is located in the southeastern part of Elephantine Island. The museum building was constructed in 1898 as the headquarters of the chief engineer of the Aswan Dam, Sir William Wilcox. The founding history of the museum dates back to 1917 and includes the antiquities from the Nubia region found before the construction of the Aswan Dam and those found after it, excavated by foreign excavation missions. It includes antiquities from predynastic times. Era. It also contains some statues of kings and individuals, some mummies of rams, the symbol of the god Khnum, various types of ceramics,architectural and decorative elements, several coffins and tools of daily life of the ancient Egyptians and some tomb paintings.