In all the great museums of the world (Cairo, Turin, London, Paris, New York, Berlin) Egyptian objects from Asyut are admired. Some of these objects are among the finest quality, which is after the opinion of Egyptologists.

Even in ancient times art and texts from Asyut were highly appreciated. Statues from Asyut were brought abroad and preserved there. Texts from Asyut were repeatedly copied and handed down more than 2200 years (from about 2100 BCE to the 2nd century CE) and were part of the cultural memory of the Ancient Egyptians.

The city of Asyut, situated 375 km south of Cairo, has always been an important center, and its westernmost mountain, Gebel Asyut al-gharbi, has (reflects) continuous history of the city. The accessibility of this information is only partially possible, not yet written the history of the region: The ancient city is located more than eight meters below the Nile silt brought by annual inundation of the Nile in the past. The Gebel Asyut al-gharbi, on the other hand, housed not only graves of residents of the city, but also a temple, monasteries, quarries and military installations, in past 5000 years, and thus provides an important source for history of the city of Asyut. German-Egyptian excavations at Gebel Asyut al-gharbi, funded by the German Research Foundation, expanded essentially our knowledge of Asyut as well as of Egypt during the past ten years.

In this lecture, as an example, the tomb of nomarch Iti-ibi-iqer from the 11th Dynasty with over 200 graffiti of the New Kingdom on the tomb walls will be presented, which provids information about the sacred landscape of Asyut. Several literary texts were also reproduced. In addition, the work in the tomb of nomarch Djefai-Hapi I from the 12th Dynasty will be shown, which may be counted the most outstanding monuments of the Middle Kingdom for its architecture, text and representation. Insight into the functions of the Late Period “Tomb of Dogs” will also be discussed.