DOI Artikel:
Mierzejewska, Bożena: Remarks on decoration of the Western Wall of Narthex in the Faras Cathedral
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18950#0151
to 707 A.D. found on the wali of a construction which is probably part of a
nearby building, Michałowski dated the earliest of these “violet” murals to the
years soon after this datę assuming that the first decoration of the interior was
executed immediately after the completion of the building. Stefan Jakobielski
writing on the history of the Faras bishopric expressed the opinion that there
was some reason to believe that the church was built much before it received
its first murals. According to him the eldest paintings could be dated to the
twenties or thirties of the 8th century, when the first coat of mud plaster was
laid over an earlier coat of whitewash.3 Przemysław Gartkiewicz analysing the
building method of the church and the traces of the rebuilding of the extant
parts of it's northern and eastern walls after a collapse, States that the original
painted decoration was executed after the completing of the last construction
works which, according to him, took part toward the end of the 8th or at the
beginning of the 9th century. The period of the episcopate of bishop Ignatios
(766-802) could be the earliest feasible datę for this.4
Two well preserved murals from the western wali of the narthex depicting
over-life size figures of standing archangels, now on display in the Faras
Gallery, were attributed to the early 8th century (ill. 1 and 2).5 According to the
same scholar, their figures originally flanked the main entrance to the church
to which both archangels formed a guard.6 7 The entrance was closed in the 10th
century and a niche in the thickness of the wali was formed. The approximate
datę of the closing of the entrance was established on the basis of the
inscription placed in the blocked part of the wali outside the church. It was the
funerary stela of Bishop Kollouthos, deceased on the 13th of August 923 A.D.,
and buried in a grave in the form of a rectangular mastaba built onto the
outside western wali of the cathedral in the place of former steps leading to
the main entrance on the axis of the building. Because of this, the door had
to be blocked before the construction of Kollouthos’ grave in 923 A.D.
Michałowski connected the closing of the main entrance with some other
changes in the interior of the church introduced some time before the death
of Kollouthos, but it is still uncertain when and why this significant change
3 S. Jakobielski, A History of the Bishopric of Pachoras on the Basis of Coptic Inscriptions. Faras
III, Warsaw 1972, p. 53 States that the traces of hooks to hang oil lamps and the staining caused
by hot oil from those lamps visible under the first coat of mud-plaster attest that the church was
in use for some time so the paintings could be executed even many years after the consecration
of the new building. According to this author it was bishop Mena (709 or 719-730) who
commissioned the first wall-paintings.
4 P. Gartkiewicz, “Cathedral in Faras in the Light of an Architectural Re-Analysis”, Nubische
Studien. Tagungsakten der 5. internationalen Konferenz der International Society for Nubian
Studies, Heidelberg, 22-25. September 1982, ed. by M. Krause, Mainz 1986, pp. 245-253 (esp.
pp. 249, 252).
3 Inv. no. 234051 (Archangel Gabriel) and inv. no. 234052 (Archangel Michael). Both figures are
about 2 m high and were painted 1 m above the floor level. Michałowski, Faras..., op.cit.,
pp.97-103.
6 Ibidem, p. 98.
7 S. Jakobielski, A History..., op.cit, pp. 102ff. The text of the inscription was published by
J. Kubińska, op. cit., pp. 32ff.
149
nearby building, Michałowski dated the earliest of these “violet” murals to the
years soon after this datę assuming that the first decoration of the interior was
executed immediately after the completion of the building. Stefan Jakobielski
writing on the history of the Faras bishopric expressed the opinion that there
was some reason to believe that the church was built much before it received
its first murals. According to him the eldest paintings could be dated to the
twenties or thirties of the 8th century, when the first coat of mud plaster was
laid over an earlier coat of whitewash.3 Przemysław Gartkiewicz analysing the
building method of the church and the traces of the rebuilding of the extant
parts of it's northern and eastern walls after a collapse, States that the original
painted decoration was executed after the completing of the last construction
works which, according to him, took part toward the end of the 8th or at the
beginning of the 9th century. The period of the episcopate of bishop Ignatios
(766-802) could be the earliest feasible datę for this.4
Two well preserved murals from the western wali of the narthex depicting
over-life size figures of standing archangels, now on display in the Faras
Gallery, were attributed to the early 8th century (ill. 1 and 2).5 According to the
same scholar, their figures originally flanked the main entrance to the church
to which both archangels formed a guard.6 7 The entrance was closed in the 10th
century and a niche in the thickness of the wali was formed. The approximate
datę of the closing of the entrance was established on the basis of the
inscription placed in the blocked part of the wali outside the church. It was the
funerary stela of Bishop Kollouthos, deceased on the 13th of August 923 A.D.,
and buried in a grave in the form of a rectangular mastaba built onto the
outside western wali of the cathedral in the place of former steps leading to
the main entrance on the axis of the building. Because of this, the door had
to be blocked before the construction of Kollouthos’ grave in 923 A.D.
Michałowski connected the closing of the main entrance with some other
changes in the interior of the church introduced some time before the death
of Kollouthos, but it is still uncertain when and why this significant change
3 S. Jakobielski, A History of the Bishopric of Pachoras on the Basis of Coptic Inscriptions. Faras
III, Warsaw 1972, p. 53 States that the traces of hooks to hang oil lamps and the staining caused
by hot oil from those lamps visible under the first coat of mud-plaster attest that the church was
in use for some time so the paintings could be executed even many years after the consecration
of the new building. According to this author it was bishop Mena (709 or 719-730) who
commissioned the first wall-paintings.
4 P. Gartkiewicz, “Cathedral in Faras in the Light of an Architectural Re-Analysis”, Nubische
Studien. Tagungsakten der 5. internationalen Konferenz der International Society for Nubian
Studies, Heidelberg, 22-25. September 1982, ed. by M. Krause, Mainz 1986, pp. 245-253 (esp.
pp. 249, 252).
3 Inv. no. 234051 (Archangel Gabriel) and inv. no. 234052 (Archangel Michael). Both figures are
about 2 m high and were painted 1 m above the floor level. Michałowski, Faras..., op.cit.,
pp.97-103.
6 Ibidem, p. 98.
7 S. Jakobielski, A History..., op.cit, pp. 102ff. The text of the inscription was published by
J. Kubińska, op. cit., pp. 32ff.
149