Minnesota in Egypt

The White Monastery
or, in Arabic,
al-Dayr al-Abyad
so called because of the light limestone walls of its church. It is more formally known as

Dayr Amba Shinuda i
or

.The Monastery of St. Shenute

return to site map or introductory page.

or neighborhood of the Red and White monasteries.

Monneret de Villard 1925-1926;

Evers and Romero 1964; Dayr Amba Shinudah 1991; Grossmann 2001: 528-536).

.

 

 

At this site stands a well-preserved fifth century church

The severe outer walls of the church resemble those of Pharaonic temples. At the top there is a cavetto molding, seen also at the

Red Monastery
(there is a more detailed photograph of that example).

 

Despite major reshaping, much of the original construction and decoration of the church built by St. Shenute remain

The nave and aisles of Shenute's church are now open to the sky. The present day church is in the east end of the first church. This photograph shows the nave and aisles of the original church leading down to the door of the present church (for Grossmann's plan, see Dayr Amba Shinudah 1991: photograph Elizabeth Bolman 2001)

go to details of church architecture,,

apse painting, other paintings

The church is the only early structure still standing at the monastery. To house so many monks and numerous visitors, the surrounding structures must have been extensive.

The original boundaries are unknown--part of what we hope to discover

For an early plan of excavated area, see Dayr Anba Shinudah 1991:for recent reinterpretation by Peter Grossman, see reference at right.

More publication is in progress: in the meantime, only a brief overview is provided here.

In the last decades limited excavation occurred (Mahmoud Ali Mohamed and Grossmann 1991: Grossmann 2001, 290, 293) but much remains to be done before we can visualize the communal life.. (In the background, note the twin towers of the new entrance, seen below.)

 

One of the glories of the White Monastery was its library.

Today, the monastery is again a center of pilgrimage, and new construction is going on: see the entryway on the right.

The site needs to be mapped, by remote and on site methods, as quickly as possible so that present day building can be integrated with ancient remains.

This site, and the Red Monastery, have now been placed on the World Monument Watch's list of the 1000 most endangered sites: see wmf.org/html/programs/watch.html