The clifflike Gebel At Teir (Bird Mountain) rises east of the Nile, some 93km south of Beni Suef and 20km north of Minya. The mountain takes its name from a legend that all Egyptian birds paused here on the monastery’s annual feast day. Deir Al Adhra (Monastery of the Virgin) is perched 130m above the river and was formerly known as the Convent of the Pulley, a reminder of the time when rope was the only way of reaching the cliff top.
Coptic tradition claims that the Holy Family rested here for three days on their journey through Egypt. A cave-chapel built on the site in the 4th century AD is ascribed to Helena, mother of Byzantine Emperor Constantine. A 19th-century building encloses the cave, whose icon of the Virgin is said to have miraculous powers. The monastery, unvisited for most of the year, is mobbed by many thousands of pilgrims during the week-long Feast of the Assumption, culminating on 22 August.
You can get to the monastery by public transport (servees or microbus from Minya to Samalut and a boat across the river), but a private taxi from Minya shouldn’t cost more than LE100 to LE150 for the return trip.
