Catacombs Of Kom El Shuqqafa

The Catacombs of Kom El- Shoqafa are one of the most important monuments in Alexandria, discovered by accident when a donkey fell into a hole leading to the Catacombs, the Catacombs contains a group of statues and decorations resembling the mixing of ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman civilization.

The structure of the Catacombs is a little complicated, it was planned to be a normal tomb for a wealthy family in the 2nd century A.D but it happened to become a serious underground tunnels that housed up to 300 corpses. Kom El-Shoqafa means in English "mound of shards" the name maybe came from the small hill of the broken pottery beside the Catacombs where it was a habit for the family of the deceased to break everything they have used in the Catacomb underground. They also found remains of horses and some coffins that appeared to be made in the Greek-Roman style.

After you get down to the Catacombs you will find the “Rotuna” which is a shaft that is roofed with a vault based on six pillars, then on one of the sides you will find the “Triclinium” which is a nearly squared hall with four pillars and flat roof the family of the deceased used to dine in on a wooden large table that was there looked like the dining tables in the wealthy houses of the Roman people, the hall has a three carved in the stone benches that was covered with pillows for the families to sit on. Leaving the Triclinium you will go nest to a descending stairs leading you to the main burial chamber that was dedicated to the wealthy family with three opening in the wall, you will find there also two shafts that are leading to the burial chambers in two rows of shafts in the walls which was added for more burials and then there is the 3rd floor which is covered with underground water right now and not for visiting.