A way of life
Coptic Monasteries: Egypt's Monastic Art and Architecture, Gawdat Gabra, with an historical overview by Tim Vivian, Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 2002. pp156, 33 maps and plans, 92 colour illustrations
Archaeologists, conservators, and art historians are regularly making exciting new discoveries in Egypt, and Coptic sites are no exception. Egyptian Christian material culture has survived best in monastic communities in the desert, due to the climate and distance from fertile land. Until recently, the visitor to most of the monastic sites in Egypt had no single, specialised guide that covered both basic, introductory information and also current developments. Large gift books with lavish illustrations, dense scholarly articles in an array of languages, and a few, rare books on single monastic sites provided little choice for the interested, non-specialist traveller. Certainly, easily portable volumes such as Jill Kamil's Coptic Egypt: History and Guide (Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 1987), and Otto Meinardus' Monks and Monasteries of the Egyptian Deserts (Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, revised edition 1989) have been invaluable for many years, but the rate of change in the field of Coptic studies has necessitated a new contribution.
With his new book, Coptic Monasteries: Egypt's Monastic Art and Architecture, Gawdat Gabra has provided a vital tool for the visitor and scholar alike. In the same vein as his: Cairo and the Coptic Museum and Old Churches (with contributions by Anthony Alcock, Cairo: Longman, 1993), Gabra has drawn on his scholarly background, and also his professional experience with the public, during his years as director of the Coptic Museum. He has produced a book that is based on current research, but is also accessible to the non-specialist. Setting the stage for Gabra's skilful treatment of individual monastic sites is an engaging and informative introduction to the historical background of the Copts, their Church, and the monastic tradition in Egypt. The author of this overview, Tim Vivian, specialises in early Christian monasticism. Both Vivian and Gabra have published numerous scholarly works, and have also written for the general public. This combination is one of the greatest strengths of this publication, resulting in its unusual character. It is rare for a book designed, as Gabra states: "to introduce the general reader to the most important Coptic monasteries", to include not only some of the latest discoveries in the field, but actually to publish new material for the first time.
Vivian provides a clear and concise overview of Christian Egypt in late antiquity (pp10-33). He emphasises the development of monasticism as a way of life, which gave rise to the great monasteries treated later in the book by Gabra. Vivian's focus on what the early monks referred to as the 'angelic life' is vital for a book of this kind, since Christian asceticism informed and generated the artistic and architectural material that is the subject of this volume.
Gabra organises his coverage of the principal surviving monastic sites geographically, directing our attention to those of significant interest to visitors. One area within an hour and a half of Cairo by car, the Wadi Natrun, was an early centre for the monastic life. Four massive complexes are still inhabited, and are growing along with the recent flourishing of the Coptic Church. Among these, the so-called Syrian Monastery and the Baramus Monastery are regularly open to the public, and include precious remains of mediaeval architecture and wall painting. Less well-known, but equally significant, is another site within an easy drive of Cairo. The Monastery of the Archangel Gabriel, referred to by scholars as Naqlun, is located in the Fayoum. Gabra examines the early hermitages in the hills behind the major enclosure, as well as the mediaeval church. The Wadi Natrun and Fayoum monasteries are currently functioning communities, permitting the visitor to see the tenacious survival of the monastic tradition in Egypt. A very different kind of monastic experience is offered by a massive ruin, set dramatically at the top of a hill, on the West bank at Aswan. Colloquially called St Simeon's, Gabra's own scholarly work uncovered its original name, Deir Anba Hatra.
Most of the above are either easy, or fairly easy to access from Cairo or Aswan, but Gabra also ventures further afield, including the exceptional White and Red Monasteries, outside of Sohag, in Middle Egypt. His coverage of the Monasteries of St Antony and St Paul, near the Red Sea, is also substantial. Other monasteries, of great significance to the Copts, such as Deir Al- Muharraq, between Minya and Assuit, are not included, presumably because little art and architecture of historical importance is visible there. Archaeological or conservation work might well reveal astonishing cultural treasures, as has happened at so many sites in Egypt, but for the present moment Gabra's choices orient the visitor to the sites that feature the best preserved ancient and mediaeval architecture, sculpture, and painting from Christian Egypt. Additionally, he has included a chapter on two monastic ruins, which are difficult or impossible to appreciate on site, the Monastery of St Jeremiah (Saqqara), and the Monastery of St Apollo (Bawit). Likely abandoned in the ninth century, these monasteries were excavated in the early 20th century, and their most significant painted and sculpted remains are prominently displayed in the Coptic Museum in Cairo, as Gabra explains.
His treatment of the Monastery at Qubbat Al- Hawa at Aswan exemplifies the clear system utilised throughout the book, and includes the very first publication of the wall paintings discovered in the remains of a monastic church, in 1998 (pp 105-107, and colour plates 10.1-10.7). Gabra carefully refers to the site as the Monastery at Qubbat Al-Hawa, and explains the uncertain justification for the various names attached to it. He continues with a concise statement about its period of flourishing (Fatimid), and a description of the newly revealed wall paintings. The site, paintings and inscriptions are illustrated with seven colour images, in addition to a ground plan, which altogether is surprisingly comprehensive given the portable nature of the book.
In keeping with the compact design of Coptic Monasteries, the colour images are usually about six by four centimeters. They will not replace the kinds of reproductions included in luxury publications such as Massimo Capuani's Egitto copto (with contributions by Otto Meinardus and Marie-Hélène Rutschowscaya, Milan: Editoriale Jaca Book Spa, 1999, and now imprinted in an English version by the American University in Cairo Press) but the decision to include 158 small photographs in colour, rather than, for example, 32 on the 16 plates, was an excellent one. These illustrations will be of interest to visitors and specialists, and the bibliography at the end of each entry increases the significance of this volume for scholars. Other helpful features are the chronology, with brief historical summaries (pp 6-9), and glossary (pp 134-135).
Unfortunately, the principal map (p xv) is of limited use, needing more detail for those unfamiliar with Egypt. Many significant sites traditionally of interest to tourists have not been included, for example Giza, and at the very least the site named Saqqara should have been juxtaposed to that of St Jeremiah, since the latter was constructed within the necropolis at Saqqara. The regional maps assist the visitor, but are at times incomplete. For example, the map showing the Wadi Natrun (p 34) indicates the turn off from the desert road, but fails to indicate that for the Baramus Monastery. Inclusion of more detailed maps, complete with all of the main roads leading to the principal monastic sites, would have increased the practical utility of this publication, and may be hoped for in a future edition.
Coptic Monasteries: Egypt's Monastic Art and Architecture meets a pressing need, as Coptic sites become more popular for tourists, and also gain a higher profile internationally. This volume actually functions as a guide to much of the best of Coptic art and architecture still in situ, because of the substantially higher survival rate of the material evidence in Egypt's desert regions. The startling fact that this book, which appeared for the first time in September 2002, is already being reprinted, underscores its significance for a broad audience. My hope is that a revised edition will appear in a few years, to keep us up to date with the quickly changing pace of our knowledge about this ancient and still vital monastic tradition.
Reviewed by Elizabeth S Bolman
