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Christianity's First Centuries in Africa
Chromatic Brilliance in Upper Egypt: The Red Monastery Church
By Elizabeth S. Bolman
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[Note to the reader: Professor Bolman's book on the restoration of the Red Monastery is a work in progress. She has generously allowed us to use the contents of a recently published brochure here.]

The Red Monastery Project: Wall Painting Conservation at the Red Monastery

(Deir Anba Bishoi) Sohag
First Season, 2002–2003 [figure 1]

The Church

      The Red Monastery church dates to about the middle of the fifth century A.D.  It is a basilica with a long nave, terminating in an elaborate sanctuary at the east. [figure 2] Today, only this eastern end is still roofed.  The nave is open to the sky. The Red Monastery church is one of the best surviving examples of this type of church architecture, known from other sites in Europe and Egypt. The original sanctuary is tri-lobed in plan, and the easternmost of these three semi-circles is now screened off and functions as the church sanctuary today.  Elaborate tiers of niches framed with well preserved architectural sculpture are topped by semi-domes in all three lobes.

Paintings and Sculpture

      The dramatic late Roman architecture of the sanctuary interior is embellished with architectural sculpture and painting.  Almost every interior surface is covered with paint, most of which dates between about the fifth and tenth centuries. [figure 3] The numerous and brightly colored designs on the architectural sculpture are the best surviving example of what was a Greek and Roman tradition, continuing into late antiquity.  In this later period, beauty was expressed through variety of pattern and of color. The three semidomes (apses) were painted several times over the centuries.  The north semidome shows the nursing Virgin Mary, and was the main focus of work in 2003. [figure 4]

Wall Painting Conservation

      In December 2002, a project began to conserve the wall paintings in the church. [figure 5] The conservation team consolidates, cleans, and conserves the paintings. They remove centuries of soot and darkened varnish, to reveal the magnificence of the original paintings. This first campaign has yielded remarkable surprises, and we anticipate many more as the work continues. [figure 6]

Thanks:
      All members of the project are grateful to the Supreme Council of Antiquities, the Coptic Church, the Egyptian Antiquities Project of the American Research Center in Egypt, and the United States Agency for International Development.  Countless people have worked very hard to make this first campaign a success.  We extend our thanks to those unnamed, and to: Zahi Hawass, Magdi al-Ghandour, Abdallah Attar,  Abdallah Kamel, Mohammed abdel Rahim, Pope Shenouda III, Bishop Yohannes, Kenneth Ellis, Anthony Vance, Gerry D. Scott III, Robert K. Vincent, Jr., and Michael Jones.

Project Director and Principal Art Historian:
         Elizabeth S. Bolman
Chief Conservators, 2002–early 2003:
         Adriano Luzi† and Luigi De Cesaris;
         late 2003 – present: Luigi De Cesaris.

Assistant to De Cesaris: Alberto Sucato.
Assistant Conservators: Emiliano Albanese, Chiara Compostella, Chiara Di Marco, Emiliano Ricchi, Gianlucca Tancioni, and Cristina Tomassetti.
Monastic Liaison and Conservation Consultant: Father Maximous El-Anthony
Abbot, Red Monastery: Father Antonius
Photographer: Patrick Godeau
Art Historians: Karel Innemée, Hans-Georg Severin
 
Photographic Credits: Excepting figure 1, all photographs were taken by E. Bolman or E. Ricchi.

The First Season of The Red Monastery Project was carried out in collaboration with the Supreme Council of Antiquities and the Coptic Church. It was administered by the Egyptian Antiquities Project of the American Research Center in Egypt, with funding provided by the
United States Agency for International Development. [figure 7]
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