 South side of the former church Deir el-Malāk | ||
| Deir el-Malāk · دير الملاك | ||
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Deir el-Malak (Arabic:دير الملاك, Dair al-Malāk, „Archangel's Monastery") is a egyptian Church ruins from the 16./17. Century about two kilometers northwest of the village el-Maʿṣara and seven kilometers northeast of the city Courage in the valley ed-Dāchla. The name Deir el-Malāk comes from an inscription and is therefore not known to the locals. Archaeologists should be primarily interested in the site.
background
The church ruins were examined in 1980 by the scientists of the Dakhleh Oasis Project. In an inscription on a limestone fragment, the name Deir el-Malāk, Monastery of the Archangel, could be read. From the name you can see that the local church was probably part of a monastery.
The dating is uncertain due to the lack of inscriptions and a lack of tradition. On the basis of two details, Peter Grossmann suggested that the church should be built in the 16th or 17th century. For one thing, that is missing Churus, this is the transverse hall in front of the sanctuary, so that this church can only have been built in modern times. On the other hand, this church has a structural relationship with the Breithauskirchen in the area Achmīm and el-Kauthar which date from the 16th century.
getting there
You can arrive by car or taxi. You drive on the trunk road 10 in the direction of el-Maʿṣara. About one kilometer west of the entrance to el-Maingangara you can already see the ruin 560 meters north of the road, but you have to continue driving. About 300 meters west of the entrance to el-Maʿṣara one branches off 1 25 ° 30 '48 "N.29 ° 2 ′ 48 ″ E to the north into the plain. From here you follow the slopes in a north-westerly direction for about a kilometer. If you drive carefully, the last route can also be covered in a normal car.
mobility
The last few meters to the church ruins and the inspection inside the ruins have to be covered on foot. The subsoil is partially damp or swampy. Avoid these damp spots when running, as there is a risk of breaking in.
Tourist Attractions
The church ruins are surrounded by fields 1 Deir el-Malāk(25 ° 31 '8 "N.29 ° 2 ′ 21 ″ E) on a small hill. The ruin is still up to 2.5 meters, but has its bottom about one meter below the surrounding soil. The church, built from unfired adobe bricks, has a roughly square floor plan with sides 18 meters long. Two cross-shaped pillars each divide the church into three naves. Arches once ran between these pillars, on which the domes of the church rested. Through this arrangement, the church is divided into nine roughly equal square space fields, and the church also had nine hanging domes. One of the arches is still there, the domes are now completely missing. Possibly the central dome towered over the others.
Of the three ships, the south aisle is the best preserved. At the end of the three aisles there was an apse, each of which was surely equipped with an altar. In each of these apses there were two small semicircular niches. As an architectural peculiarity, there are additional apses in the middle of the south and west sides, on the north wall, which is now almost completely missing, there was certainly another one. These apses create two main axes in the church that form a cross.
Only later was a single-nave side chapel, a parekklesion, added to the south side of the church.
kitchen
There are restaurants in courage.
accommodation
Accommodation is available in courage and in Qasr ed-Dachla.
trips
The visit to the monastery church can be combined with a visit to the village el-Maʿṣara and other attractions in the area of the village Balāṭ connect.
literature
- : Dakhleh Oasis Project: Report on the Third Season of Survey, September – December, 1980. In:Journal of the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities (JSSEA), ISSN0383-9753, Vol.11 (1981), Pp. 175–192, especially pp. 184 f., Plate 10.
- : Christian architecture in Egypt. Suffering: Brill, 2002, Handbook of Oriental Studies; Dept. 1: The Near and Middle East; 62, ISBN 978-90-04-12128-7 , P. 566 f., Fig. 181.
