Discover one of the best monuments in Aswan The ruins of the old Christian monastery, the largest ancient Coptic architecture complex in Egypt, known as the monastery of St. Simeon, are located in the Aswan desert, in 700 meters from the west bank of the Nile, opposite to the island of Elephantine. Coptic and Arabic historical sources are calling this monastery as the monastery of Anba-Hatra (Hidra, Hadri). The name of St. Simeon was given to this place much later. This is the last name, by which the monastery is known until our days, but the history of it's renaming is lost in the centuries. The Holy Hatra was an anchorite, consecrated by the bishop of Aswan Patriarch Theophilus (385-412) and who died in the time of Emperor Theodosius I (379-395). Whether the monastic settlement in this area existed before these times is unknown, but the wall paintings found in the rock caves under the brick ruins, date them by the VI-VII centenary.