The national projects invade the municipal divisions of Minya governorate from south to north, Samalout, Dermawas, and Minya. These projects varied between health, roads, transportation, bridges and tourism.
Markaz Samalout is witnessing a major shift among the governorate's municipal divisions as it possesses a number of these projects, the most important of which is the revival of the Holy Family Path in Gabal El-Tayr in Samalout, which is one of the national projects carried out in Minya, as well as the project to develop the path of the Holy Family Journey after Vatican announced that the region is a part of the Christian pilgrimage route in the world.
The development work of the second phase of the project includes the establishment of two entrances to the archaeological area, in addition to planting trees and landscape on both sides of the road leading to the ancient church. The second phase includes adding guiding signs in the area, in addition to the construction of tourist rest houses in the archaeological area, a 500-meter long basalt floor from the tourist rest house to the ancient church and painting the facades of cemeteries on both sides of the road leading to the church.
The Church of the Holy Virgin lies on top of Gabal “Mount” Al-Tayr, adjacent to the River Nile, in al-Minya in Middle Egypt. It is considered one of the most important places visited by the Holy Family during their Journey into Egypt. It is visited by more than a million citizens yearly to celebrate the anniversary of the Holy Family's journey to Egypt. More than 25 spots in different parts of Egypt bear their fragrant memory, as the Holy Family moved between its sides from the Sinai coast in the east to the Nile Delta, until it reached the ends of Upper Egypt.
The Monastery of the Holy Virgin is located on the western side of Gabal Al-Tayr village in Minya Governorate, above the mountain in the east of the Nile. It was built in 328 AD by Empress Helena, the mother of Constantine the Great, the first Byzantine emperor to convert to Christianity. The church is cut/ carved in the rock.
The baptism was cut/carved in the middle of the column body on the southern side of the nave, and the Lakkan is located towards the western door in the middle of the floor of the courtyard and it is covered by a wooden door, the holy sanctuary is a room carved into the rock with the altar, and next to the altar there are two side rooms.
Furthermore, the free Samalout Bridge axis project is one of the most important national projects in Samalout. It includes 43 industrial works, including 30 bridges on the Nile, the most important of which are a bridge on the eastern desert road, a bridge over the Nile River, a bridge on the Ibrahimia Canal, the Cairo-Aswan railway, the western agricultural road, a bridge on the western desert road, and 17 tunnels to avoid intersections with secondary roads, canals and drains.
Its length is 24 km and its width is 21 meters, containing 2 traffic lanes. Samalout Model Hospital is one of the major projects which includes 5 buildings, with a total area of 9,630 square meters, serving 733,000 citizens from the governorate, in addition to reducing the pressure on central hospitals in the governorate. The hospital consists of a ground floor and four upper floors, where the ground floor includes emergency and reception departments, 4 outpatient clinics and a central pharmacy.
The Aten Museum is one of the mega-national projects taking place in Minya Governorate. That long-awaited for dream which is located in the eastern Nile region, is one of the most important projects that have been completed currently after being stopped for many years.The Akhenaten Museum consists of 14 museum display halls. The number of artifacts scheduled to be displayed upon opening may reach 10,000 artifacts.
The main hall will include the history of Minya through different eras, while the rest of the halls contain artifacts that recount the history and art of Aten period, in addition to a theater, a cinema, a conference hall that can accommodate about 800 people, an archaeological library, 19 bazaars, 5 artificial lakes overlooking the Nile, and a number of cafeterias, in addition to an administrative building with a center for staff training and another to revive heritage industries and crafts.
