DOI article:
Godlewski, Włodzimierz: Archaeological research in Naqlun in 1991
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26426#0054
and a text on parchment containing a list of prayers to God. 5 The
"library” is evidently Muslim in character and clearly later than the
casket, but the dating of the books meets with some difficulties.
The discovery of the casket in the ruins of the monastery came as
somewhat of a surprise; it was presumably lost or left behind on
purpose in the ruined building sometime in the second half of the
19 th century, at a time when the monastery was abandoned already.
Inside the Church of the Archangel Gabriel 6 regular
renovation works carried out in the building uncovered a set of
murals on the westem and northem walls of the church narthex
and naos (Figs, 1 and 2). Architect Saami Tudry removed the
superimposed layers of plaster revealing the paintings which were
then immediately protected by Mrs. Ewa Parandowska, conservator
from the National Museum in Warsaw, and Mr. Mamdouh
Muhammad Ouda from the Centre of the Conservation of Islamic
and Coptic Monuments in Cairo. The shortness of the field season
permitted only two of the paintings to be recorded and effectively
protected: one was a representation of the Mother of God with
Child, enthroned between two standing archangels (No. 1 on Fig.
1), the other a saint mounted on a horse, identified by a legend as
Pi£o§ (Ilt6 <mi) (No. 2 on Fig. 1). Both representations were painted
by the same artist and can be dated on stylistic grounds to the 12 th
century. They are undoubtedly one of the best murals known from
Egypt of this period. 7
5 See paper by Yusuf Ragheb, below p. 57.
6 Jaroslaw Dobrowolski, Naqlun - Deir el-Malak Ghubrail: the Existing
Monastic Complex, Nubica 1-2, 1990, pp. 161-70; P. Grossmann, Neue
friihchristlische Funde aus Agypten, Actes du XI* Congres Intemational
d'Archeologie Christiane, Roma 1989, vol. H, pp. 1862-65, fig. 8.
7 W. Godlewski, J. Dobrowolski, The Church of Archangel Gabriel and its
paintings. Preliminary Report, BSAC 1993 (forthcoming).
52
"library” is evidently Muslim in character and clearly later than the
casket, but the dating of the books meets with some difficulties.
The discovery of the casket in the ruins of the monastery came as
somewhat of a surprise; it was presumably lost or left behind on
purpose in the ruined building sometime in the second half of the
19 th century, at a time when the monastery was abandoned already.
Inside the Church of the Archangel Gabriel 6 regular
renovation works carried out in the building uncovered a set of
murals on the westem and northem walls of the church narthex
and naos (Figs, 1 and 2). Architect Saami Tudry removed the
superimposed layers of plaster revealing the paintings which were
then immediately protected by Mrs. Ewa Parandowska, conservator
from the National Museum in Warsaw, and Mr. Mamdouh
Muhammad Ouda from the Centre of the Conservation of Islamic
and Coptic Monuments in Cairo. The shortness of the field season
permitted only two of the paintings to be recorded and effectively
protected: one was a representation of the Mother of God with
Child, enthroned between two standing archangels (No. 1 on Fig.
1), the other a saint mounted on a horse, identified by a legend as
Pi£o§ (Ilt6 <mi) (No. 2 on Fig. 1). Both representations were painted
by the same artist and can be dated on stylistic grounds to the 12 th
century. They are undoubtedly one of the best murals known from
Egypt of this period. 7
5 See paper by Yusuf Ragheb, below p. 57.
6 Jaroslaw Dobrowolski, Naqlun - Deir el-Malak Ghubrail: the Existing
Monastic Complex, Nubica 1-2, 1990, pp. 161-70; P. Grossmann, Neue
friihchristlische Funde aus Agypten, Actes du XI* Congres Intemational
d'Archeologie Christiane, Roma 1989, vol. H, pp. 1862-65, fig. 8.
7 W. Godlewski, J. Dobrowolski, The Church of Archangel Gabriel and its
paintings. Preliminary Report, BSAC 1993 (forthcoming).
52