The Fatimids ruled Egypt until the 12th century, when replaced by Saladin. Some of the tombs here go back to the 9th century, meaning that they predate the Fatimids. The tombs are very attractive, with roof corners protruding like horns. Presently many of these structures are being neglected, and seem to be only short time from falling apart. In a poor attempt of preservation, inscriptions were removed from the tombs, but without recording what came from what. Because of that, it is today impossible to reconstruct the origin of each structure. A walk around the most visually attractive tombs is more important and interesting than it may first appear. The thing here is that there are graves from so many centuries, that this single place show the development of Muslim graves up until our age. Anyone being fascinated by this part of Muslim history, should not miss out on the gigantic dome graves complex of Minya, more than 600 km down the Nile.
