Tuna el-Gebel the blessing village

CAIRO – 2 June 2017: Tuna el-Gebel village is famous for having many archaeological tombs, which contributed greatly to the revival of archaeological and touristic life, and helped drive Arab and foreign tourists to the region once again.

It is an archaeological village located in Al Minya Governorate. It has a population of more than 20 thousand people.

Tuna el-Gebel was originally named “Towns’’ in the Pharaonic era. It was named Tahnet in the Roman era. The meaning of both names is the blessing or flood. Tuna el-Gebel was considered a cemetery in the Pharaonic, Greek and Roman periods that contains many important monuments including the tomb and the chapel of Isadora, the martyr of love, which dates back to the Greco-Roman period.

Tuna el-Gebel houses the tomb of the priest ‘’Petosiris’’ dating back to the Greek era, the villa of the Dean of Arabic literature Taha Hussein, in addition to the existence of many archaeological sites that have not been discovered yet waiting to be revealed to the world.

Tuna el-Gebel has recently attracted a large number of tourist delegations from all over the world to learn about the history and heritage of ancient Egypt. In April roughly 500 tourists were drawn to the area.

Jaber Nassar, President of Cairo University, recently announced that the faculty of archaeology at Cairo University has made an important and historic archaeological discovery in Tuna el-Gebel. The faculty discovered a Greco-Roman era graveyard with 12 intact mummies. This discovery will increase the archaeological value of the village.