Description of the attraction
On the left bank of the Nile, not far from the snow-white villa, there is an elegant mausoleum that belongs to Mohammed Shah Aga Khan. During his lifetime, he was the 48th imam of the Ismaili sect and an extremely influential politician, helped to partition India and create Pakistan, and was the father-in-law of the once popular actress Rita Hayworth.
The Aga Khan loved to spend the winter in Aswan, as its climate had a beneficial effect on the imam's health. He found his last refuge here in 1957. The Aga Khan was not only a politician, but also a very wealthy landowner and entrepreneur, who received a secular education in England. His fourth wife, Frenchwoman Yvonne Labrousse, known as Begum Om Habibe, died in 2000 and is buried next to her husband. Yvonne Labrousse's life has been dedicated to philanthropy: The Om Habibe Foundation continues to work to improve health care in Aswan.
The mausoleum was built of pink granite in the late 1950s after the Fatimid tombs in Cairo, and the inner sarcophagus is made of white marble. Every day, Yvonne Labrousse brought a fresh rose to the tomb when she was still living in her husband's villa. On other days, this function was assigned to the gardener. For some time in Egypt there were no decent flowers and roses were delivered from Paris by private plane.
In the garden, one level below the crypt, is a white villa and a small monastery.
