A rotunda pierced by a six-pillared central shaft opens off the vestibule where two pillars are topped by the papyrus, lotus, and acanthus leaves of ancient Egypt, their fresco adorned by two falcons flanking a winged sun. Carved into wall niches are figures of a man, and a woman, perhaps the tomb's original occupants. The man's body assumes the stiff hieratic pose found in ancient Egyptian sculpture, but his head is in the lifelike manner of the classic Hellenes; the woman's stance is also rigid, but she sports a Roman hairstyle.v The layout, decoration and very atmosphere of the burial site are unique both within Egypt and the rest of the world. On its western side, as usual in Egyptian funerary practices, lies its "City of the Dead."
Kom el Shoqafa, the wonder of the medieval world was discovered after centuries in 1900 accidentally when a donkey fell through a hole in the ground and into one of the catatombs. The animal, it soon became clear, had made an extraordinary archeological find.
Kom El-Shuqafa is the Arab translation of the ancient Greek name, Lofus Kiramaikos, meaning "Mound of Shards" or "Potsherds."
Allwondersoftheworld.com tells about the solid rock-cut architecture which is identified as "a tour-de-force and defies intelligible description. The technical expertise can even surpass the modern day subways and tunnels in aesthetic response.
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