Attractions in El Quiser

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Ottoman Fortress
Thee is an Ottoman fortress located in Quseir that dates from the 16 century. It was latter occupied and modified by the French, and after a huge battle in the 19th century, was then occupied by the British who added a fortified gate. The fortress has been largely restored, and will soon be the home of a museum containing displays on local history, Red Sea mining, monasteries and trade, as well as a visitor's center.

Wadi Hammamat
The first modern mention we have of Wadi Hammamat was by Scot, James Bruce who traveled through the Wadi in 1769. However, the first extensive research on the site was done by the Russian Egyptologist Vladimir Golenischeff in the late 19th century.

Wadi Hammamat is located about half way between Qusier and Gift (ancient Coptos), and is famous today mostly for its pharaonic graffiti. More than 200 hieroglyphic tablets adorn the quarries of the renowned "bekhen" stone, which is actually made up of three distinct materials. However, the graffiti transverses time and extends into the 20th century and the reign of King Farouk.

The Romans constructed watch towers and wells at regular intervals along the routes of the Eastern Desert where caravans stopped. Old wells and the remains of the Romans can still be seen.

Many of the inscriptions are dedicated to the divinities of the East, with Min-Amon attheir head, and belong to both travelers and the Sementyou, or the pioneers who quarried the stone. These were professionals who traveled the land looking for the best stone to use in sculptures and monuments, and were highly skilled engineers and artisans. The hieroglyphic inscriptions engraved in the ravine walls, are set in the south side of the wadi. There is a small Egyptian Antiquities building opposite the inscriptions.