Wissa Wassef Art Centre

Giza


The artisans of the Wissa Wassef Art Centre, who work in open studios, are known for their distinctive tapestries depicting rural scenes. Crude imitations are standard in souvenir shops; the ones for sale and on display in the museum here are in a completely different class, like paintings in wool. There’s pottery and batik fabric, done to equally good effect. The place has the feeling of a sanctuary – quiet and refreshingly green, especially after a dusty Pyramids visit.

The centre is housed in a beautiful mudbrick complex, the work of its founder, architect Ramses Wissa Wassef. It won an Aga Khan prize for its refined traditional style.

To get here, take a Saqqara-bound microbus (LE3) or taxi from Pyramids Rd at Maryutia Canal – a giant flyover runs above it. Get off when you see the blue ‘Harraniyya’ sign, after about 3.5km, and about 600m after the flyover turns away. The centre is by the canal on the west side of the road.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Giza attractions

1. Khafre’s Valley Temple

2.39 MILES

You approach the Sphinx through this temple that once sat at the edge of a small artificial lake, connected to the Nile by a canal – it was in this way…

2. Sphinx

2.4 MILES

Known in Arabic as Abu Al Hol (Father of Terror), this sculpture of a man with the haunches of a lion was dubbed the Sphinx by the ancient Greeks because…

3. Menkaure's Valley Temple

2.46 MILES

Head east from the Pyramid of Menkaure to visit the ruins of Menkaure's valley temple. Excavations here unearthed many statues of Menkaure and also…

4. Tomb of Meresankh III

2.52 MILES

The bas-reliefs of daily life – scenes depict farming and craftspeople as well as Meresankh's family – inside this 4th dynasty tomb provide a colourful…

5. Eastern Cemetery

2.52 MILES

In this cemetery, on the eastern flank of the Queen's Pyramids, you can still see the perfectly smooth limestone facing along the bases of some structures…

6. Queens' Pyramids

2.57 MILES

Along the Great Pyramid of Khufu's east face, three small structures some 20m high resemble piles of rubble. These are the Queens’ Pyramids, the tombs of…

7. Tomb of Seshemnufer IV

2.59 MILES

The Tomb of Seshemnufer IV, just southeast of the Great Pyramid, is almost always open. There are carved deer on the entrance room walls and a burial…

8. King Farouk's Rest House

2.63 MILES

East of the Great Pyramid of Khufu is a ruin of a different era: King Farouk’s Rest House, a grand neo-Pharaonic structure built in 1946 by Mustafa Fahmy…