Mausoleum of Aga Khan, Aswan
Mausoleum of Aga Khan: In the city of Aswan Egypt, while sailing up the Nile, one passes in front of the mausoleum where, at his request, Aga Khan III who was one of the most important Imams of Islam, was buried.
Mahommed Shah, known as the Aga Khan III,(November 2, 1877, to July 11, 1957) was the 48th Imam of the Nice Ismaili community. He was one of the founders and the first president of the All India Muslim League. His aim was the promotion of agendas and protection of the rights of Muslims in Muslim India. The League, until the late 1930s was not a mass organization,
Aga Khan III was born in Karachi, India, today City in Pakistan and died in 1957. Yvette Labrousse, who had been Miss France, worked as his secretary and until they eventually fell in love and got married. Not a day went by that Begum didn’t put a red rose on her husband’s suit lapel. She continued to do so after the Aga Khan’s death but the rose was placed on the grave and when she traveled it was the gardener who deposited it.
Begun, a word of Turkish origin is an honorary title given to women in high society or royalty.
After the death of the Aga Khan III, the Begun oversaw the construction of the mausoleum, located on the west bank like most tombs in Egypt, as it faces west, towards sunset.
The building was built on a hill overlooking the white village, the residence of Aga Khan III – whom he succeeded, near the Monastery of St. Simon. The work on the site began at the end of the 1950s in accordance with the aesthetic decisions of his wife.
From the time of Aga Khan’s death until her death in 2000, the widow visited his white Carrara marble tomb every day, to place a red rose on it. This tradition, the fruit of a story of love and dedication, was not interrupted: the mausoleum gardeners continued the custom and not a single day was the Aga Khan’s tomb devoid of the red rose.
Mausoleum of Aga Khan inside
The interior of the Mausoleum is of incomparable beauty. Red carpets dress the floors of the rooms and the light colors give it a characteristic luminosity that contrasts with a typical ethnic style.
To reach this magnificent and mystical monument, it is possible to take a value, a typical sailing boat very present in the waters of the Nile, and thus reach the southern end of the western coast of Aswan. In this city, Aga Khan spent most of its winters.
Unfortunately, its mausoleum is no longer open to the public, but undoubtedly the beauty of the exterior in the superb setting of the hills that rise above the Nile and the experience of navigating its waters are reasons enough to make a visit to this magical place in Egypt.
At the death of the Begun, she was buried in the mausoleum next to her beloved Aga Khan.