AL MENYA
Al Menya, which is 246 kilometers away from Cairo, is considered to be one of the most important governorates of Upper Egypt because of its special location in the middle way between Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt, or the Northern and Southern of Egypt. This is besides the variety of monuments that the governorate hosts that go back to different eras from the Pharonic era to the modern times. Al Menya is stretched over a distance that ranges around 135 kilometers on both banks of the Nile with 18 kilometers wide from the east to the west. The size of the city is approximately 32 thousand kilometers and its populations reach a number of 4 million Egyptians. Al Menya was the capital of Egypt in (1373 – 1390) BC when Ikhnaton and the beautiful queen, Nefertiti, lived there in the small village of Tel El Amarna in the Markez of Malawi the center of the worship of the God Aten. This was the first time in the Egyptian history when the Egyptians worshiped one god, changing the religion that encouraged worshiping many gods specially the famous god of Amun. The bride of Upper Egypt had an important role in other stages of theEgyptian history. In the Roman era, it was the center of the worship of the god Thut, the god of wisdom and knowledge, while in the Copts era the church of the Virgin Mary was built in Al Menya in the same time the Church of Al Resurrection was built in Jerusalem. The holy Family has stayed in Al Menya for a while as well during their holy journey. In the Islamic period Al Menya was proud to be visited by a number of the prophet's companions and Al el Beit when the two most famous Moslem army leaders, Khaled Ibn El Walid and Amr Ibn Al Aas who built the historical mosque of Al Hassan, the son of Al Saleh, the son of Zein Al Abdeen, the grandson of the prophet Mohamed, peace be upon him. The governorate even had more pride when the prophet Mohamed, peace be upon him, married a lady from Al Menya, Marya the Copt. The name of the governorate, Al Menya, went through a large process of evolution to reach its modern name today. It was called Men'at Khofu, or the town of the breast feeder of Khufu, as it is shown in the inscriptions in the tombs of Beni Hassan. Afterwards, it was called "Mony" in the ancient Coptic language which means the house or the store. The third name of governorate was Menya Ibn Khaseeb when the army leader Ibn Khaseeb wished to be its governor and eventually, the Caliph of the Abbasids at the time, Harun El Rashid, granted him the governorate and assigned him as its ruler. Then, it was called Menya el Fooly referring to the famous Moslem religious scholar, Ahmed Al Fooly. Agriculture plays a major role in the lives of the residents of Al Menya as there is 550,000 acres of cultivated land with qam7, onions, sugar cane that represents around 6% of all the cultivated land of Egypt. Al Menya is also famous for producing raw materials for glass and ceramic production. Al Menya is famous for the production of different kinds of Egyptian cheese as well.
