DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26282#0023
Chapter One
INTRODUCTION
The cathedral at Faras was uncovered in 1960-
1964 by a Polish expedition directed by Kazimierz
Michalowski. The ruins were found inside a big
hill standing inside the outer town walls, occupied
at the start of the investigations by residential
buildings. Once this late architecture, which was
dated to the Post-Christian period and even the
second half of the 19th century (Michalowski
1962.1: 171-183) was removed, it turned out that
the hill was no natural eminence. It was instead the
result of sand accumulating against the high-
standing walls of earlier structures. Neither the
nature of this late architecture nor the precise date
of its origins were ever established.
The allegedly ‘modern’ architecture was
removed following rudimentary documentation.
It was undoubtedly of a complex nature, having
undergone successive rebuilding, but originally
looked quite homogeneous in plan and took into
account the character of the earlier structures
[Fig. 1], However, only part of the earlier walls
had been used as foundations for the more
modern structures. Today there is hardly any
doubt that the Faras Cathedral, surrounded as it
had become by sand dunes, had been leveled
under the new habitations. The walls and vaulting
of the upper sections of the church were
dismantled from above, reaching right down to
the walking level inside an extensive courtyard
surrounded by walls and equipped with corner
towers. This courtyard took up all of the area
once occupied by the earlier cathedral [Fig. 2]
and its walls and towers were founded on the
sand dunes surrounding the church. The court-
yard was associated with the residential architec-
ture to its north, including also in part the North
Building from the Post-Christian period. The
architecture on the mound, inside which the ruins
of the Cathedral were concealed, while most
certainly Post-Christian in date, was presumably
not much later than the abandonment of the
church said to have occurred perhaps in Ottoman
times. There is no dating evidence to speak of. By
this time sand dunes had virtually engulfed the
church building and only the vault and central
dome were still visible above the sand. In keeping
with the natural dynamics of sand carried by
northern winds, the highest part of the dune was
over the eastern end of the church, the sand
accumulating against the tambour of the central
dome and the vaulting of the transversal aisle.
Toward the west, the sand sloped gently. It is the
only possible reconstruction of events that explains
why the eastern end of the church, especially the
southeastern corner, is preserved so high.
Upon abandonment, the cathedral was ‘safe-
guarded’ against destruction and profanation.
The outer windows were blocked with masonry
not only in the bottom part of the walls, a fact
that took place probably still when the church
was in use, but also in the upper sections, in the
transversal aisles and the tambour supporting the
still-standing dome. The evidence for this is
obvious once a study is made of the deposits
Fig. 2. Tbe cathedral and later buildings on the kom, cross-section looking north (after Michalowski 1974: 66)
PAM Supplement Series 1
19
INTRODUCTION
The cathedral at Faras was uncovered in 1960-
1964 by a Polish expedition directed by Kazimierz
Michalowski. The ruins were found inside a big
hill standing inside the outer town walls, occupied
at the start of the investigations by residential
buildings. Once this late architecture, which was
dated to the Post-Christian period and even the
second half of the 19th century (Michalowski
1962.1: 171-183) was removed, it turned out that
the hill was no natural eminence. It was instead the
result of sand accumulating against the high-
standing walls of earlier structures. Neither the
nature of this late architecture nor the precise date
of its origins were ever established.
The allegedly ‘modern’ architecture was
removed following rudimentary documentation.
It was undoubtedly of a complex nature, having
undergone successive rebuilding, but originally
looked quite homogeneous in plan and took into
account the character of the earlier structures
[Fig. 1], However, only part of the earlier walls
had been used as foundations for the more
modern structures. Today there is hardly any
doubt that the Faras Cathedral, surrounded as it
had become by sand dunes, had been leveled
under the new habitations. The walls and vaulting
of the upper sections of the church were
dismantled from above, reaching right down to
the walking level inside an extensive courtyard
surrounded by walls and equipped with corner
towers. This courtyard took up all of the area
once occupied by the earlier cathedral [Fig. 2]
and its walls and towers were founded on the
sand dunes surrounding the church. The court-
yard was associated with the residential architec-
ture to its north, including also in part the North
Building from the Post-Christian period. The
architecture on the mound, inside which the ruins
of the Cathedral were concealed, while most
certainly Post-Christian in date, was presumably
not much later than the abandonment of the
church said to have occurred perhaps in Ottoman
times. There is no dating evidence to speak of. By
this time sand dunes had virtually engulfed the
church building and only the vault and central
dome were still visible above the sand. In keeping
with the natural dynamics of sand carried by
northern winds, the highest part of the dune was
over the eastern end of the church, the sand
accumulating against the tambour of the central
dome and the vaulting of the transversal aisle.
Toward the west, the sand sloped gently. It is the
only possible reconstruction of events that explains
why the eastern end of the church, especially the
southeastern corner, is preserved so high.
Upon abandonment, the cathedral was ‘safe-
guarded’ against destruction and profanation.
The outer windows were blocked with masonry
not only in the bottom part of the walls, a fact
that took place probably still when the church
was in use, but also in the upper sections, in the
transversal aisles and the tambour supporting the
still-standing dome. The evidence for this is
obvious once a study is made of the deposits
Fig. 2. Tbe cathedral and later buildings on the kom, cross-section looking north (after Michalowski 1974: 66)
PAM Supplement Series 1
19