Venus Fouad takes an armchair tour of Egypt's desert beauty spots Music and song, fauna and flora, architecture, and language -- everything changes once you step out of the valley and into the surrounding desert. Encapsulated in time, beholden to ancient customs and proud of their past, the Egyptian oases are an untapped source of beauty, pure in their magic and durable in their allure. There are five major oases in Egypt: Dakhla, Kharga, Farafra, Bahariya, and Siwa. In most of these destinations, tradition survives in the form of ancient temples, old monasteries and extraordinary building modes. Experts attending the "Oases Heritage" conference, recently organised by the Society for Preserving Egyptian Heritage, discussed various topics pertaining to the oases and their past and present. Examining the various types of architecture in the Western Desert, Ramez Ibrahim pointed out that most desert habitations were often established on elevated locations. The higher the ground, the stronger were the rocky foundations and the more temperate the climate. It is customary for desert dwellers to surround their villages with a high wall and to leave no or little space between the houses. The houses must be clamped together for protection against sun and wind. According to Ibrahim, houses tend to have small windows, and it is rare for the door of one house to face one another. Looking from a distance at a village is like gazing at a fort. On the ground level, the windows are particularly small and high enough to ensure complete privacy. Often, there are two doors to the house, one for the family and another for its guests. In Siwa, the guests' door leads to a madyafa, or reception room that is almost independent from the rest of the dwelling. Mervat Salib discussed the environmental impact of religious architecture in the Egyptian desert. The harsh climate, she explained, influenced the choice of material and design. The builders tended to make the windows and doors as small as possible. The frequent use of domes and barrel-shaped roofs alleviated the heat inside the building, since only half of the ceiling was exposed to the sun at any given time. From the outside, the buildings tended to curve smoothly as if formed by the hand of a sculptor, since the air-born sand is not kind to angular structure. Speaking on Coptic monasticism, Father Yastus El-Orshalimi told the conference that monasticism spread in the Western Desert as of the third century AD, when a large number of forts and desert posts were converted into monasteries. Most monasteries contained two semi-separate sections: one for the dwelling of the monks and another for the accommodation of passing caravans. By offering accommodation to travelling merchants, the monasteries achieved two goals. On the one hand they offered hospitality, which is a Christian virtue. On the other hand they could buy their needs and sell some of their products. There is hardly a place in the oases that does not contain a monastery or the ruins of one. Some areas in the Western Desert, especially in Wadi Natrun, are packed with monasteries. The most famous monasteries in Kharga are in Bagawat; Qasr Al-Kashef; Ein Saaf and Gabal Al-Teir. In Bahariya there is a Coptic church in Al-Haizz; Roman tombs in Wahat Al-Areg; and the Deir Anba Samuel in Wadi Al-Moi. According to archaeologist Haggagi Ibrahim, Egypt's Western Desert is filled with tourist attractions and offers ample opportunity for religious pilgrimage, health tourism and adventure sports. One can, for example, experience the healing influence of the sulphur springs in Gabal Al-Dakrur before trekking or engaging in sand gliding. Horse and camel riding is available in Giza, Fayoum, Baharia and elsewhere. In Farafra -- once named Land of the Cow after the goddess Hathor -- one can inspect the ruins of Ayyubid forts, then tour the White Desert and round it all up with a visit to the local museum. In Dakhla, at one time called Mut, or Trinity in the pharaonic language, one can visit the islamic citadel of Al-Qasr and inspect the elbow-shaped gate and the dated wooden lintels. Visitors to Dakhla can spend an hour or two admiring the Roman rock tombs of Badi Osir, which still contain the original mummies. In the Temple of Amoun at Deir Al-Hagar visitors can visit the ruins of a Coptic monastery. In Balat, they can see tombs dating from the Sixth Dynasty. Those who manage to go to the Wadi Al-Gadid (New Valley) Museum can admire the extraordinary tiles dating from the Old Kingdom, on which there is a textual reference to the oases. In Ain Badiyaa is a temple dedicated to Amoun from Roman times. In Tanida, visitors can admire examples of pre-historic rock art. Emad Farid discussed the possibility of self-sustaining tourism-based development around heritage sites. He envisaged houses built in the local style from natural material. These would include hospitality rooms set aside for visitors and an open space serving as market. Restaurants and cafeterias would be available, as well as a theatre specialising in traditional singing and storytelling. He also proposed a crafts centre and ateliers for visiting artists. In his paper on "Burial Customs and the Architecture of Coptic Cemeteries in Bagawat," Emad El-Raheb said that most of the mourning habits of Egyptians went back to ancient traditions. The Copts incorporated much of the older traditions related to the afterlife. When Roman persecution of Christians began in ernest, a culture of martyrdom took root, designed to allow the nation to face oppression with dignity. Until the fourth century AD, Coptic traditions of burial followed the same pattern of embalming known in Roman times. The habit of embalming the dead continued in Egypt until the seventh century. The fortieth day celebration and the annual remembrance of the dead are derived from pharaonic traditions. According to Raheb, the word Bagawat is a corruption of gabawat (or qabawat, meaning cupolas in Arabic). The name is fitting, as the area is abundant in domes. Bagawat, a town in Kharga first populated during the Twelfth Dynasty, is currently the capital of the Wadi Al-Gadid Governorate. Its cemetery, situated three kilometres north of Kharga City, contains 236 domed tombs of extraordinary beauty.
