El-Gabal el-Ahmar ( ar, الجبل الأحمر) is located today within the boundaries of modern-day
Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...
, in the area of
Nasr City
Nasr City ( ar, مدينة نصر ) is a district of Cairo, Egypt. It is located to the east of the Cairo Governorate and consists mostly of condominia. It was established in the 1960s as an extension to neighboring settlement of Heliopo ...
. The name means "The Red Hill". The site was in full production in the times of
Akhenaton
Akhenaten (pronounced ), also spelled Echnaton, Akhenaton, ( egy, ꜣḫ-n-jtn ''ʾŪḫə-nə-yātəy'', , meaning "Effective for the Aten"), was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh reigning or 1351–1334 BC, the tenth ruler of the Eighteenth Dy ...
,
Amenhophis III,
Tutankhamon and
Ramses III
Usermaatre Meryamun Ramesses III (also written Ramses and Rameses) was the second Pharaoh of the Twentieth Dynasty in Ancient Egypt. He is thought to have reigned from 26 March 1186 to 15 April 1155 BC and is considered to be the last great mona ...
. The quarry was directed by Huy also known as "Chief of the King's Works" and also by Hori.
The famous
Colossi of Memnon
The Colossi of Memnon ( ar, el-Colossat, script=Latn, italic=yes or ''es-Salamat'') are two massive stone statues of the Pharaoh Amenhotep III, which stand at the front of the ruined Mortuary Temple of Amenhotep III, the largest temple in the Theba ...
are made from blocks of
quartzite sandstone probably quarried at El-Gabal el-Ahmar.
Typical minerals known from this site:
*
Celestine,
Quartzite
Quartzite is a hard, non- foliated metamorphic rock which was originally pure quartz sandstone.Essentials of Geology, 3rd Edition, Stephen Marshak, p 182 Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tect ...
or red sandstone.
{{Coord, 30.0456113, N, 31.3080056, E, display=title
Archaeological sites in Egypt