Archaeological Sites of the Island of Meroe World Heritage Site

Official name

Archaeological Sites of the Island of Meroe | UNESCO

Country

Sudan | Map

Continent

Africa

Location

16.9333° Lat, 33.7166° Lon | Map

Code

1336

Time Zone

Africa/Khartoum (CAT, +0200)

Current Time

Category

Cultural

Description

Inscribed 2011. The Archaeological Sites of the Island of Meroe, a semi-desert landscape between the Nile and Atbara rivers, was the heartland of the Kingdom of Kush, a major power from the 8th century B.C. to the 4th century A.D. The property consists of the royal city of the Kushite kings at Meroe, near the River Nile, the nearby religious site of Naqa and Musawwarat es Sufra. It was the seat of the rulers who occupied Egypt for close to a century and features, among other vestiges, pyramids, temples and domestic buildings as well as major installations connected to water management. Their vast empire extended from the Mediterranean to the heart of Africa, and the property testifies to the exchange between the art, architectures, religions and languages of both regions.