Waterwheels

Al Fayoum is famous for its more than 200 waterwheels, which have become a prominent symbol of the town and the oasis. These four rather rickety and unassumingly small examples are slap in the centre of Medinat Al Fayoum. The Greeks invented the waterwheel, and the first depictions of them are seen in Ptolemaic Egyptian sources, so it’s quite likely that since Pharaonic times these devices have kept the town well irrigated despite its irregular topography of rolling hills and steep depressions.