DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26282#0080
Chapter Four
difficulty, as these two facades were completely
new. One possible explanation is that there was
a local tradition of block-iike architectural design,
rigorously observed in Nobadia, as well as in the
Thebaid district of Egypt. Countering this view is
the set-off in the southwestern corner of the
cathedral, where the entrance platform was to be
found - yet another departure from the Dongolan
model. As in Dongola, so at Faras, the two main
entrances to the cathedral were situated in the
lateral facades: the northern one led to the
transversal nave and the southern one to the
narthex, repeating in this the Dongolan arrange-
ment, even though the doorway was found in the
corner set-off of the building facade. The Faras
complex had, additionally, a western entrance on
the building axis, absent from the church in
Dongola. This Faras peculiarity may be explained
by the different layout of the architecture around
the cathedral and the limited accessibility of the
northern doorway. The western entrance stood in
line with the western gate in the fortifications and
presumably opened on one of the main streets of
Faras. Western entrances are known from build-
ings at Dongola, lilce the Mausoleum (BX) and the
EC.I and EC.II basilicas (Godlewski 1990; 2005),
and the early church at Qasr el Wizz (Scanlon
1970) . In any case, it does not seem to have been
tteated as the main entrance as it was fairly
quickly blocked, in the early 10th century at the
latest.
The absence of an eastern corridor behind the
apse at Faras is due presumably to such a tradition
not being observed in Nobadia, as well as to the
fact that a mausoleum of the bishops of Pachoras,
referred to in literature as the Mausoleum of
Bishop Ioannes and obviously much earlier in
date (see below, pp. 139-140), was located east of
the Cathedral of Aetios.
Thus, there can be no doubt that the
Cathedral of Paulos was modeled fairly closely
on the Dongolan Cathedral and that the search
for the roots of the new architectural conception
of Nubian cathedrals that appeared at the turn of
the 7th century, replacing the five-aisled basilicas,
should concentrate on the Nubian capital. Gart-
kiewicz (1990: 247-257) encountered serious
difficulties in suggesting the source of inspiration
for this change, more in the sphere of the idea
itself than in finding direct models. As far as the
latter are concerned, he referred to the Church of
the Prophets, Apostles and Martyrs at Gerasa
(Crowfoot 1935), Basilica B at Junca (Christern
1971) and the Damous el Caritha church in
Carthage (Christern 1971), all of which demon-
strate two equally important axes, the east-west
and the north-south ones, crossing at the center of
the complex and the multiplication of columnar
supports in the corner parts of the naos [Fig. 59].
These two features, however, only indicate the
conception that inspired the Dongolan building.
True to his earlier views (Gartkiewicz 1976:
1982) about the meaningful influence of Arme-
nian central plans on Nubian architecture,
Gartkiewicz searched for the roots of the Church
of the Granite Columns in this part of the world
as well (1990: 250). Grossmann (2001) criticiz-
ed this approach, bringing to attention regions
lying much closer to Nubia, such as Egypt, Pa-
lestine and North Africa, but he, too, failed to
provide any direct analogies for the Cathedral
of Dongola.
This absence of close parallels is surprising at
the very least and can hardly be explained by the
gaps in our knowledge of the architecture of the
said region. If we take into consideration the
historical circumstances and the situation in the
region after the violent Arab expansion of the 7th
century, the resultant shrinking of the Byzantine
sphere of influence combined with the relatively
slow development of Byzantine architecture at the
end of the 7th and in the 8th century (Krauthei-
mer 1981: 229ff.), we are forced to devote more
attention to Nubian architecture of the period
and especially the sacral architecture of Dongola,
which is fairly well known already (Godlewski
1998; 2005).
It appears that the Dongolan architects,
spurred on by the expectations of the church
authorities and the royal court, may have been
capable of satisfying these needs and generating
their own Nubian conception of a cathedral
church inspired by Byzantine models. An analysis
of the churches of the 6th and 7th centuries in
Dongola, such as the Old Church, the Mausoleum
and the five-aisled Basilica damaged during the
siege of Dongola by Arab troops in 652, reveals
all the elements making up the Church of the
Granite Columns [Fig. 60], The idea of a cruci-
form interior is present already in the Mausoleum
(BX) and to some extent in the Mosaic Church
(Zurawski 1995; Godlewski 2005), where the
four pillars in the naos clearly suggest the
presence of a north-south axis in this complex,
because the distance between them is greater than
between these pillars and the east and west walls
of the naos. A columnar arrangement of the naos
is well known from the Basilica, while the plan of
the eastern end with pastophories connected by
a corridor running behind the apse is already well
established in the Nubian capital and known from
a few other complexes. The naos body is modeled
on the Old Church and the Mausoleum. The
western annex is perhaps the least well docu-
mented in Dongolan architecture, but its inside
form can be observed in the Basilica. The
PAM Supplement Series 1
73
difficulty, as these two facades were completely
new. One possible explanation is that there was
a local tradition of block-iike architectural design,
rigorously observed in Nobadia, as well as in the
Thebaid district of Egypt. Countering this view is
the set-off in the southwestern corner of the
cathedral, where the entrance platform was to be
found - yet another departure from the Dongolan
model. As in Dongola, so at Faras, the two main
entrances to the cathedral were situated in the
lateral facades: the northern one led to the
transversal nave and the southern one to the
narthex, repeating in this the Dongolan arrange-
ment, even though the doorway was found in the
corner set-off of the building facade. The Faras
complex had, additionally, a western entrance on
the building axis, absent from the church in
Dongola. This Faras peculiarity may be explained
by the different layout of the architecture around
the cathedral and the limited accessibility of the
northern doorway. The western entrance stood in
line with the western gate in the fortifications and
presumably opened on one of the main streets of
Faras. Western entrances are known from build-
ings at Dongola, lilce the Mausoleum (BX) and the
EC.I and EC.II basilicas (Godlewski 1990; 2005),
and the early church at Qasr el Wizz (Scanlon
1970) . In any case, it does not seem to have been
tteated as the main entrance as it was fairly
quickly blocked, in the early 10th century at the
latest.
The absence of an eastern corridor behind the
apse at Faras is due presumably to such a tradition
not being observed in Nobadia, as well as to the
fact that a mausoleum of the bishops of Pachoras,
referred to in literature as the Mausoleum of
Bishop Ioannes and obviously much earlier in
date (see below, pp. 139-140), was located east of
the Cathedral of Aetios.
Thus, there can be no doubt that the
Cathedral of Paulos was modeled fairly closely
on the Dongolan Cathedral and that the search
for the roots of the new architectural conception
of Nubian cathedrals that appeared at the turn of
the 7th century, replacing the five-aisled basilicas,
should concentrate on the Nubian capital. Gart-
kiewicz (1990: 247-257) encountered serious
difficulties in suggesting the source of inspiration
for this change, more in the sphere of the idea
itself than in finding direct models. As far as the
latter are concerned, he referred to the Church of
the Prophets, Apostles and Martyrs at Gerasa
(Crowfoot 1935), Basilica B at Junca (Christern
1971) and the Damous el Caritha church in
Carthage (Christern 1971), all of which demon-
strate two equally important axes, the east-west
and the north-south ones, crossing at the center of
the complex and the multiplication of columnar
supports in the corner parts of the naos [Fig. 59].
These two features, however, only indicate the
conception that inspired the Dongolan building.
True to his earlier views (Gartkiewicz 1976:
1982) about the meaningful influence of Arme-
nian central plans on Nubian architecture,
Gartkiewicz searched for the roots of the Church
of the Granite Columns in this part of the world
as well (1990: 250). Grossmann (2001) criticiz-
ed this approach, bringing to attention regions
lying much closer to Nubia, such as Egypt, Pa-
lestine and North Africa, but he, too, failed to
provide any direct analogies for the Cathedral
of Dongola.
This absence of close parallels is surprising at
the very least and can hardly be explained by the
gaps in our knowledge of the architecture of the
said region. If we take into consideration the
historical circumstances and the situation in the
region after the violent Arab expansion of the 7th
century, the resultant shrinking of the Byzantine
sphere of influence combined with the relatively
slow development of Byzantine architecture at the
end of the 7th and in the 8th century (Krauthei-
mer 1981: 229ff.), we are forced to devote more
attention to Nubian architecture of the period
and especially the sacral architecture of Dongola,
which is fairly well known already (Godlewski
1998; 2005).
It appears that the Dongolan architects,
spurred on by the expectations of the church
authorities and the royal court, may have been
capable of satisfying these needs and generating
their own Nubian conception of a cathedral
church inspired by Byzantine models. An analysis
of the churches of the 6th and 7th centuries in
Dongola, such as the Old Church, the Mausoleum
and the five-aisled Basilica damaged during the
siege of Dongola by Arab troops in 652, reveals
all the elements making up the Church of the
Granite Columns [Fig. 60], The idea of a cruci-
form interior is present already in the Mausoleum
(BX) and to some extent in the Mosaic Church
(Zurawski 1995; Godlewski 2005), where the
four pillars in the naos clearly suggest the
presence of a north-south axis in this complex,
because the distance between them is greater than
between these pillars and the east and west walls
of the naos. A columnar arrangement of the naos
is well known from the Basilica, while the plan of
the eastern end with pastophories connected by
a corridor running behind the apse is already well
established in the Nubian capital and known from
a few other complexes. The naos body is modeled
on the Old Church and the Mausoleum. The
western annex is perhaps the least well docu-
mented in Dongolan architecture, but its inside
form can be observed in the Basilica. The
PAM Supplement Series 1
73