Free Virtual Tour – Experience Ancient Egypt From Home

Mention one thing about his lock-down that inspires you to explore. Here it is – last month, the Egyptian tourism board has invited the world into virtual tours. These FREE virtual tours to the historic sites of ancient Egypt will give you the online adventures that you can enjoy right from your home. These sites include 5,000-year-old The Tomb of Queen Meresankh III, The Mosque-Madrassa of Sultan Barquq, The Tomb of Menna, The Ben Ezra Synagogue, and The Red Monastery.

This featured tour is a part of Harvard University’s Digital Giza Project, equipped with 3-D modelling. Because this tour gives you the fascinating experience of detailed 3-D imagery view, you can say that the lock-down has come with some benefits. Besides, it will inspire you to explore physically after the lock-down ends.

Among these tours, The Tomb of Queen Meresankh III and The Tomb of Menna include detailed information, accessible by clicking the circles located on some features places. The Queen’s Tomb, dated to 5000-years ago, was discovered in 1927 by Harvard archaeologist George Andrew Reisner. This one is the oldest among all Egyptian virtual walkthroughs. Queen Meresankh was the daughter of Prince Kawab and Hetepheres II of the fourth dynasty and was wed to King Khafre. She was the granddaughter of Great Pyramid builder Cheops who is also known as Khufu.

Reisner stated later, “None of us had ever seen anything like it”. The paintings and carvings are still well-preserved in the burial place. This virtual tour will lead you to the line of servants sculptured on the wall, holding baskets of offerings. On the opposite wall, the queen is picturised arm in arm with her mother. The route ducks under a low passageway into the chamber where the Meresankh’s dark rock stone coffin is.

The Tomb of Menna belongs to the 18th dynasty, which means it’s dated to about 1549 B.C to 1292 B.C. According to the ministry, this is “one of the most visited and best-preserved” among all from the era.

Menna’s tomb also shows informational circles highlighting the features of the paintings. Interestingly, in the paintings, all of the paintings of Menna have been defaced.

From here on, notation blurbs will be discontinued, but there will be that same detailed 3-D imagery of ancient Egypt’s history.

The Mosque-Madrassa of Sultan Barquq, a 14th-century mosque is known for its immense size and innovative architecture. This place exhibits a sight that can be ignored by tourists making a scrambling toward the Mosque-Madrassa of Sultan Hassan. Sharia Al Muizz hints at the medieval glory of a city which bloomed through trade between east and west in Cairo’s history.

The rest of the tours visit the Coptic Red Monastery in Upper Egypt with ornate frescos and the Ben Ezra synagogue in ancient Cairo where baby Moses was found.

So, this will be an unforgettable tour of the ancient sites across Egypt in an hour. Virtual tours are amazing. It lets you travel to distant places from your home with a single click of a button. Besides, this is a teaser to inspire future visits.