DOI issue:
Egypt
DOI article:Godlewski, Włodzimierz: Excavations 1995
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26390#0090
archbishop Zacharias (1004-1032) and the other one Jacob from
the /Jo/As* Arsinoe, presumably a founder of paintings inside the
church.
Coptic and Arabic inscriptions have been preserved on the
apse wahs and pilasters; two are dated to 1183 and 1033. The
second inscription is particularly interesting as it commemorates
the visit to Naqlun of Jacob, bishop of Aphroditopolis; it was
written on a wall already covered with paintings. Thus, the
mention of patriarch Zacharias in a foundation text, in conjunction
with the inscription of bishop Jacob and the tenable assumption
that the Naqlun church presumably could not have been renovated
before the death of the Fatimid ruler al Hakim (1022), permits the
wall paintings at Naqlun to be dated with considerable precision to
the years 1022-1032. This would make the Naqlun wall paintings
the only relatively well dated set of paintings from 11^-century
Egypt, although it is known that many Egyptian churches were
either renovated or rebuilt after the death of al Hakim.
88
the /Jo/As* Arsinoe, presumably a founder of paintings inside the
church.
Coptic and Arabic inscriptions have been preserved on the
apse wahs and pilasters; two are dated to 1183 and 1033. The
second inscription is particularly interesting as it commemorates
the visit to Naqlun of Jacob, bishop of Aphroditopolis; it was
written on a wall already covered with paintings. Thus, the
mention of patriarch Zacharias in a foundation text, in conjunction
with the inscription of bishop Jacob and the tenable assumption
that the Naqlun church presumably could not have been renovated
before the death of the Fatimid ruler al Hakim (1022), permits the
wall paintings at Naqlun to be dated with considerable precision to
the years 1022-1032. This would make the Naqlun wall paintings
the only relatively well dated set of paintings from 11^-century
Egypt, although it is known that many Egyptian churches were
either renovated or rebuilt after the death of al Hakim.
88