Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (15.2003(2004))

OLD DONGOLA

SUDAN

CONCLUSIONS

Both the architecture and the interior
decoration leave little doubt as to the special
character of the Cruciform Building (B.III).
Repeated plastering of the walls on the
outside, as well as inside, confirm this
conclusion, as does the quality of materials
used, the techniques and the painting
workshop.
With its heyday past, the damaged
building was transformed into a small
church. The ruined condition of the
structure at the time of this remodeling is
proved by the fact that in some sections the
latest coating of plaster was laid directly on
the bricks and in other places fragments of
the earlier plaster were splashed with
trickling mud.
The iconographic program and style of
particular layers are known only fragmen-
tarily. Based on what has been recovered of
layers I-III, some elements of the interior
finishing can be discerned, and the extent of
one kind of decoration ascertained (uniform
decoration covering the the walls under the
spring of the vault in layers II and III).
The following three kinds of decoration
inside the Cruciform Building can be
distinguished based on surviving evidence:
— original painted decoration with figural
representations in landscape (at least for part
of the representations) covering the walls
and vaults (?) of the building (plaster layer I);
— painted and modeled/stucco illusionist
decoration, perhaps including figural
representations (fragments of robes, wings?)

with the application of stucco elements
(plaster layers II and III);
— painted decoration connected with the
rebuilding of the structure as a church and
its modified function, including typical
elements of the painted decoration of
Nubian churches, featuring characteristics
of the late period in Nubian art (13th-l4th
centuries).
It is difficult to tell whether the changes
in the painted decoration before the
structure's rebuilding as a church (the lime-
plaster layers) had been dictated merely by
a desire to renovate the walls or by changing
tendencies in painted decoration.
All three layers of lime plaster are
characterized by quality workmanship in
terms of building technology, as well as
painting. A lack of parallels from Nubia
(and Egypt) makes dating on the base of
style difficult. Even so, the distinctness of
the atelier and of the execution point to
a very early period in the painting art of the
region, a period during which the traditions
of masters originating from other artistic
centers were still being treasured. The
period appears to combine foreign
attributes, such as high class lime plastering
and stucco as far as technology is concerned,
and landscape in the iconography, still
discernible but to be discarded eventually,
with indigenous elements that were
gradually taking root to create that specific
individual style for which Nubian painting
is known.

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