1526-08_ECA_5(2008)_02 10-06-2009 14:44 Pagina 19 ECA 5 (2008), p. 19-36; doi: 10.2143 / ECA.5.0.2036216 ‘New’ Discoveries at Dayr Qubbat al-Hawâ, Aswan: Architecture, Wall Paintings and Dates* Renate DEKKER To my friend, Maarten Heremans (†10 May 2008) This contribution examines the discoveries that In the first part of this preliminary survey of the were made in 1998 by the Supreme Council of finds at Dayr Qubbat al-Hawâ, a new ground plan Antiquities on the site of Dayr Qubbat al-Hawâ in will be presented. It shows how the northern build- Aswan1. At the time, the area to the north of the ing is related to the church which Grossmann exam- church in front of the ancient tomb of Khunes was ined, and indicates the murals and the texts. Then, cleared from debris and parts of a building, wall a first study of the murals in the apse and the long paintings and numerous Coptic as well as Arabic room is presented, followed by an examination of texts came to light2. the dated graffiti and dipinti and their relation to Already in 1985, Peter Grossmann noted ‘ein the architecture and the paintings. These lines of kleiner hoch verschütteter Kuppelraum’ to the north research will contribute to a new history of Dayr of the church, but did not include it in his ground Qubbat al-Hawâ. plan, since it – in his opinion – was not part of the church proper3. He reconstructed the latter build- ing as an ‘Achtstützenbau’4. More recently, Gawdat Gabra briefly described * I would like to express my gratitude to the scholars who the wall paintings and published photographs of have helped me with writing this paper. Peter Grossmann them5. He localized an impressive two-zoned com- made valuable suggestions for the interpretation of the position in the apse in the west wall of the church architecture. Gertrud van Loon provided biographical help (instead of the northern building), and six standing in the case of the wall paintings. Jitse H.F. Dijkstra (University of Ottawa), who visited the monastery in figures on the west wall of the room to the north November 2002, kindly gave me permission to use his of the apse. Five figures with square nimbi were photographs, which show some of the Coptic texts in a depicted. slightly better state than mine, and had constructive The Coptic and Arabic texts were not pho- remarks on several matters. Zuzana Skalova provided me with some valuable suggestions. tographed or recorded systematically, and no report 1 For Dayr Qubbat al-Hawâ, named after the tomb of of their discovery is as yet available. This is even Shaykh Ali Abû ‘l-Hawâ on top of the cliff, see Coquin/ more regrettable, since they were left exposed to the Martin 1991, 850-851; Edel 1966, 48-55; idem 2008; sun and the heat, so that they are likely to deterio- Grossmann 1985, 339-348; idem 1991, 851-852; de Morgan 1894, 158-162; Timm 1991, V, 2160-2161. 6 rate and become hardly legible in the future . 2 For brief discussions of the discoveries, cf. Gabra 2002, Gawdat Gabra, nevertheless, noted a Coptic dip- 105-107, Figs 10.1-7; idem 2004, 1074-1075, Figs 2-3; into dated A.M. 896, that is A.D. 1179/1180, Kamel/Naguib 2003, 170-177 (including remarks on the which was written on a layer of plaster that was content of the Coptic inscriptions, but without transcrip- tions or translations); van Loon, in Gabra/van Loon 2007, applied over the painted layer, and concluded that 308-309. the murals were executed before this date7. 3 Grossmann 1985, 342; see also Grossmann 1991, 852. On 4 December 2005 I visited the site and made 4 Grossmann 1985, 339-348, Fig. 2; idem 1991, 851-852. photographs of the remains of the building, the Other examples of octagon-domed buildings are the churches of Dayr Anbâ Hadrâ and Dayr al-Kûbânîyah, paintings and several of the Coptic texts to the which are both located in the region of Aswan, cf. north of the church. Among these texts are two Grossmann 1982, 7-13, 54-60; idem 2002, 92, 560-565. graffiti with identical dates and the dipinto noted 5 Gabra 2002, 107, Figs 10.3-10.6; idem 2004, Figs 1 and by Gawdat Gabra, and a long dated dipinto in the 2; cf. van Loon 2006, 99, n. 58. 6 Gabra 2004, 1074. On the damage done to the paintings same building (see below). I did not have the since 1998, see n. 37 infra. opportunity to examine the Arabic texts. 7 Gabra 2002, 107, Fig. 10.7; idem 2004, 1075. 19 1526-08_ECA_5(2008)_02 10-06-2009 14:44 Pagina 20 Fig. 1. Adapted plan of the church of Dayr Qubbat al-Hawâ (author) A NEW GROUND PLAN OF THE CHURCH One of Grossmann’s photographs shows the (OR CHURCHES?) north-eastern rock-cut pillars in the hall of the tomb of Khunes and secondary stone walls between some In order to update Grossmann’s ground plan of the of them, which together formed the west wall of the church, I have compared the photographs published church9. Noteworthy are the diagonal layers of by him in 19858 with the ones taken by me in stone to the right of the stone wall at the far right, 2005. Since the new plan is not based on measure- just below a fallen block of masonry. Grossmann ments, it must be considered provisional (Fig. 1). assumed that this was the north-western corner of the church. In front of the west wall is a mudbrick wall between stone pillars. Other photographs show 8 Grossmann 1985, Pls I-III. 9 Grossmann 1985, Pl. I b. For a plan of the tomb of the lower parts of two stone pillars in the northern Khunes, cf. de Morgan 1894, 158. part of the church, and a doorway in the area to the 10 Grossmann 1985, Pls II and III. sanctuary10. 20 1526-08_ECA_5(2008)_02 10-06-2009 14:44 Pagina 21 Pl. 1. View on the area uncovered in 1998 (photograph author, 2005) A more recent photograph (Pl. 1) presents a view It seems to be too low to serve as an entrance to the on the area that was uncovered in 1998. Visible are building, but it may have led to a room on a lower the mudbrick wall (left, foreground), the northern- level12. To the east of the pillar construction are an most rock-cut pillar of the tomb as well as the stone isolated stone pillar and, at a short distance, a wall walls flanking it (left, background), and the lower that runs perpendicular to the north wall (Pl. 5). parts of the northern stone pillars (close to the edge The building extended further east, but no remains of the pit on the foreground)11. The diagonal lay- of its east wall are recognizable13. ers of stone appear to be part of the construction The addition of these constructions to Gross- backing the mudbrick conch of the apse with the mann’s reconstruction results in the plan of another two-zoned composition (Pl. 2). To the north of the church, which is slightly irregular: the walls running apse are the barrel-vaulted room with the row of fig- north-south are parallel to the cliff face, whereas ures opposite a construction of three stone pillars those running east-west deviate in a northerly direc- arranged in a corner and connected by mudbrick tion14. The naos of the church consisted of an almost arches (Pl. 3). Remains of a squinch are visible on the inner side. North of the barrel-vaulted room is the north-western bay of the building, which used to be covered by a hanging vault (Pl. 4). A door in 11 The huge pit in the area of the nave of the church is the result of the clearing of the entrance to Khunes’ tomb the west wall of this bay leads to a rock-cut stair- during the excavation by E. Edel in 1963 (see Edel 1966, case that runs parallel to the barrel-vaulted room. 54; Grossmann, 1985, 340). At the west end of the north wall of the building 12 I do not remember traces of a staircase. If there was a room, one can see an arched niche with a bottom sunk it may have been a baptistery or a chapel. 13 Pl. 5 shows that the area east of the transverse wall is higher into the floor. In the same wall, west of the centre, than the one west of it, which might imply that there are there is also a rectangular opening with a straight still some structures covered under the sand. A future exca- lintel, which is closed by a mudbrick wall (Pl. 1). vation can confirm or reject this supposition. 21 1526-08_ECA_5(2008)_02 10-06-2009 14:44 Pagina 22 Pl. 2. The western apse of the later church (photograph author, 2005) square nave, surrounded by a pair of pillars on the northeast, on the account of an important dipinto, north, west and south sides, with additional pillars that was intended to be visible (see below). Two in the western corners, and by aisles on the north doorways in the west wall of the church gave access and west sides, which formed an ambulatory. to the monastic buildings on top of the cliff15. No remains of a southern aisle were noted (that is in The central nave used to be roofed by a dome the area of the pit in front of Khunes’ tomb).