Not a single trip to Egypt is complete without legends of the famous pharaohs and visits to the stone pyramids. The tomb of Cheops is familiar to those who have never been to Africa. Everyone knows one of the seven wonders of the world where the great pharaoh was buried, but only a few know where he was born. According to some historians, the birthplace of the legendary Egyptian ruler and his father, Sneferu, is considered to be one of the oldest settlements on the banks of the River Nile called Beni Hasan. Currently, this area is a part of the surroundings of the modern city of Al Minya and is known as a necropolis with multiple rock-cut tombs that have been well-preserved to the present day.

The necropolis of Ancient Egypt consists of 39 large tombs belonging to rulers and noblemen and hundreds of tombs where the non-elite was buried. The oldest of them date back to the 22^th century BC, the reign of the 4^th Dynasty of Egypt. A distinctive feature of Beni Hasan's tombs is rectangular porticoes leading to the chamber tombs. In some of them, stone statues of the dead and their family were found. Wall paintings of hunting, fishing, sporting events, and traditional dances have been preserved in 12 chamber tombs. Scenes of antelopes feeding and ball playing painted on the tombs of Khnumhotep II and Baqet III are particularly interesting. Narratives of the afterlife and sacrifices are found more often.

So called “ancient cells” are related to the later Greco-Roman period. The fact that hermits lived there is evidenced by numerous wall inscriptions. There are rooms serving as a church, a chapel, and a school with fragments of Coptic language well-preserved on the walls. 

The most recent buildings are the tombs of the 30^th Dynasty of Egypt, ended its own reign after the Persian Conquest of Egypt. They date back to the 4^th century BC.