Pharaoh’s Island Egypt seeks to add on UNESCO Heritage List

CAIRO - 12 May 2017: The Pharaoh’s Island, or Jiziret Ferawn, in South Sinai is a beautiful touristic attraction site with a historical significance that the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities is in the process of adding it on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. Yet unfortunately it is unpopular among Egyptians.

This island has the most important Islamic monument in Sinai, Salaadin citadel. Salaadin al-Ayubbi erected the citadel in the twelfth century in order to secure al-Aqaba gulf against external invasion, especially that of the crusaders, as well as to secure the roads of Hajj and trade.

Around the citadel there are fences and towers built for the purpose of surveillance. The citadel also contains barracks for the soldiers, silos to store food, and other places to store weapons. It also has a water tank, and a mosque. It also has pigeon towers, as pigeons were used in communication back then.

Standing on the top of the citadel tower, one can see the boarders of four countries; Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Palestine.

Minister of Antiquities, Dr. Khaled Anany, held a meeting earlier this month with South Sinai’s governor, Khaled Fouda, as well as a number of figures from the Ministries of Interior, Defence, Investments and International Cooperation, and Environment to discuss the details to finalize the file for applying to list the South Sinai island, Pharaoh’s Island, on the World Heritage List in 2018.