White Monastery Deir el-Abyad

Some 15mi/25km north-northwest of Sohag, on the edge of the desert hills, is the ancient White Monastery, also known as Deir Amba Shenuda after its most notable Abbot, Shenute.

The monastery, centered on the church (built 440), is surrounded by a high wall of white limestone blocks which gives it something of the aspect of a fortress. The wall and the entrance gateway on the south side have the cavetto cornice familiar in Egyptian temples. The church, entered through a narthex with an apse at the west end, is an aisled basilica with a trilobate sanctuary, consisting of a square domed central area and three apses with semi domes. In the sanctuary and the nave are columns from the nearby ancient city of Atrepe (Athribis). The apses have two rows of five niches alternating with columns. Some of the ceiling paintings are well preserved. At the west end of the church is a second narthex with a pillared apse at the north end. The many treasures once contained in the monastery library are now in European collections.