Qasr Ibrim

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Location of Qasr Ibrim.

Qasr Ibrim (Arabic: قصر ابريم‎) is an archeological site in Lower Nubia. Originally it was a major city perched on a cliff above the Nile, but the flooding of Lake Nasser after the construction of the Aswan High Dam turned it into an island and flooded its outskirts; it is the only major archaeological site in Lower Nubia to have survived the flooding other than Abu Simbel. Both before and after the flooding it was a major site of archaeological investigation.

A page from an Old Nubian language manuscript of Liber Institutionis Michaelis Archangeli from Qasr Ibrim, 9th-10th century AD.

Human habitation at the site dates from the Late Kingdom, but it reached its greatest prominence in the Middle Ages when it was the home of the Eparch of Nobatia. Qasr Ibrim is the source of the largest collection of Old Nubian documents ever found, including the records of the Eparch. The site was inhabited until the 1840s. Today the island is closed to all but archaeologists.

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Coordinates: 22°39′01″N 31°59′30″E / 22.65028, 31.99167