New Siwa Oasis Museum in Shali Fortress

The recently renovated Shali Fortress - a mudbrick stronghold that towers over central Siwa - may soon be the site of a new antiquities museum for the Siwa Oasis. Or at least, one of the seven buildings that will make up the museum.

The upcoming museum will be home to antiquities from ancient Egypt and the Ptolemaic era, as well as Coptic and Islamic artefacts. While construction has not begun yet, the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities has started to plot out where the museum will be built.

While the Shali Fortress has attracted visitors to its newly restored splendour, the Siwa Oasis has long been an intriguing tourist destination. It is home to the Temple of Amun, where Alexander the Great once visited to consult an oracle, and is the site of several salt lakes which are said to hold mystical rejuvenating properties.