Al Kharga used to be the last but one stop on the Forty Days Road, the infamous slave-trade route between North Africa and the tropical south.
Today, it is the biggest New Valley oasis.Outside the main centre is the Temple of Hibis, builton the site of a Saite, Persian and Ptolemaic settlement.One of the few Persian monuments in Egypt, the 6th centuryB.C. temple is well-preserved with paintedvultures and huge relief's of Darius greeting Egyptian gods on the outerwalls. Ten kilometers away, the Necropolis of Al-Bagawat houses 263 mud-brick tombs withCoptic murals, including the remains of one of the oldest churches in Egypt:theTomb of Peace and the Tombof the Exodus. Pharaonic monuments include Al-Ghuwayta Templewhich dates from 522 B.C., Nadura Citadel, Qasr El Zayyan that dates back to the Ptolemaic era, and theMuseu omf Antiquities