| Ṭaḥā el-Aʿmida · طحا الأعمدة | ||
| Governorate | Minyā | |
|---|---|---|
| Residents | 9.781 (2006) | |
| height | 43 m | |
no tourist info on Wikidata:  | ||
| location | ||
| ||
Taha el-A'mida, Arabic:طحا الأعمدة, Ṭaḥā al-Aʿmida, „Ṭaḥā of the pillars", short Taha, طحا, Ṭaḥā, Rare Taha el-'Umda, طحا العمدة, Ṭaḥā al-ʿUmda, Coptic: ⲦⲞⲨ Ϩ Ⲟ, Touho, is a village with about 10,000 inhabitants[1] in Middle Egypt in the governorate el-Minyā northwest of its capital el-Minyā. The main attraction is the old church of St. Menas.
background
The place was in the past Bishopric.
One of the most important sources for Christian story is the description of the Abū el-Makārim in tradition Abū Ṣāliḥ the Armenian. Accordingly, the city probably had a meaning comparable to that el-Bahnasā. In Ṭaḥā of the 7th century, 15,000 Christians lived here, but no followers of other faiths. There were 360 churches, of which Abū Ṣāliḥ two churches of St. Virgin and others for the angel Gabriel, St. George, St. Macarius, Mark the Evangelist and St. Stephan by name. The future Arab historian el-Maqrīzī names the two Churches of the Blessed Virgin and that of the Apostles. Abū Abāliḥ also reports that the last Umayyad caliph Marwan II (Arabic:مروان بن محمد بن مروان, Marwān ibn Muḥammad ibn Marwān, tooمروان الجعدي, Marwān al-Ǧaʿdī, 745-750), after the city population refused to allow Muslims to settle, sent soldiers to Ṭaḥā, who killed numerous city dwellers there and, with the exception of the Church of St. Menas destroyed all churches. The residents had to pay a tax to keep the last church.
From the account of Abū āliḥ it can be concluded that Ṭaḥā from St. Family was visited on their escape.
At the end of the 19th century, the place had a good 1000 inhabitants.
getting there
The place can be reached by car or taxi. Halfway along the trunk road from el-Minyā to Samālūṭ one turns in the village 1 Gamus(28 ° 9 ′ 27 ″ N.30 ° 43 '40 "E), Arabic:جموس, Ǧamūs, to the west. Ṭaḥā is located northwest of Ǧamūs. First you drive west to the 2 Branch(28 ° 9 '15 "N.30 ° 42 ′ 40 ″ E), then north to 3 Branch(28 ° 10 ′ 29 ″ N.30 ° 42 ′ 31 ″ E), then back west to 4 Branch(28 ° 10 ′ 17 ″ N.30 ° 41 ′ 53 ″ E) and then north again. The church is at the position 1 28 ° 11 ′ 21 ″ N.30 ° 41 ′ 53 ″ E.
mobility
The streets in the city are sometimes very narrow, which requires some driving skills.
Tourist Attractions
In the city center there are three churches in a very small space. The oldest is the Church of St. Menas, to the west of it is the Church of the Virgin Mary (Arabic:كنيسة العذراء مريم, Kanīsa al-ʿAdhrāʾ Maryam). Both churches are within the same enclosure wall. A new church is being built south of the enclosure wall.
Probably the most interesting of the three churches is that Church of St. Menas (Arabic:كنيسة مار مينا, Kanīsa Māri Mīnā). From the courtyard in the south of the church complex, the church can be reached by going down a few steps. The current church dates from the 17th or 18th century, but parts of the earlier churches were reused in it. The first church was built as early as the time of the Helena, Mother of the Roman emperor Constantine. You enter the church in the south. The church is divided into three north-south strips by columns or pillars.
On the right hand side (i.e. in the east) are the three holiest of holies (heicals) of Abū Fām al-ǧindī aṭ-ṭaḥāwī (Arabic:أبو فام الجندي الطحاوي, „Abū Fām, the soldier who comes from Ṭaḥā“, In the north), St. Menas and St. George. Two icons of St. Menas are on the north side (as a young man) and on the south side (as an old man). Other icons, some of which are 800 years old, can be found on the icon wall.
On the left (i.e. in the west) in the north-west corner there is the 8-arched basin for the festivities on the occasion of the Epiphany (the festival of the apparition of the Lord), and the baptismal font to the east. To the south in front of it there are two marble columns. The more northerly of the two shows a cross, the more southerly a cross and the name of Christ on the shaft and a cross on the south side of the column base. In the very south there is a source for the ritual washing of feet.
The church is normally closed, but those present help find the key ruler so that he can catch up.
accommodation
Accommodation options exist in El-Minyā.
trips
A visit to the church can be completed with visiting other Christian sites in the vicinity Samālūṭ connect. These are that El-ʿAdhrāʾ monastery and the churches of el-Manāhra and el-Bayahu.
literature
- : The churches and monasteries of Egypt and some neighboring countries attributed to Abû Sâliḥ, the Armenian. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1895, Pp. 213, 222. Various reprints, e.g. B. Piscataway: Gorgias Press, 2001, ISBN 978-0-9715986-7-6 .
- : Ṭaḥā (al-Aʿmīda). In:Christian Coptic Egypt in Arab times; Vol. 6: T - Z. Wiesbaden: Reichert, 1992, Supplements to the Tübingen Atlas of the Middle East: Series B, Geisteswissenschaften; 41.6, ISBN 978-3-88226-561-3 , Pp. 2454-2460.
Individual evidence
- ↑Population according to the 2006 Egyptian census, Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics, accessed July 19, 2014.
