There are also the cave churches once inhabited by the Holy Family during its journey in Egypt. In these cases, the churches were built by these caves or upon them. The monastery of the Virgin Mary at El-Ganadla is one of the cave churches commemorating the holy family’s journey, whether in Lower or Upper Egypt. The Virgin Mary Monastery is the Holy Family’s final stopping place in Upper Egypt.
The Monastery of El-Ganadla, also called the Monastery of the Virgin (Dayr al-‘Adra), was established in pharaonic quarries to the west of the village al-Ganadla, about 25 kilometres south of Asyut. It is often confused with the Monastery of St. Macrobius (Dayr Abu Maqrufa), a nearby laura dedicated to the sixth-century hermit Saint Macrobius (Abu Maqrufa).
Location of the Monastery of El-Ganadla
The Monastery of El-Ganadla stands in the nearby mount of a village named Deir Al Ganadlah, El Ghanayem, Assiut Governorate.
Description of Virgin Mary Monastery at El-Ganadla
The monastery of al-Ganadla has two churches, one from the nineteenth century and an older church dedicated to the Virgin Mary. A narrow corridor exists through which the visitor enters a doorway to the southern part of the old church, separating the houses of worship. At the same time, the naos has an irregular quarry shape, with the ceiling highest in the central region.
The mountain here possessed many caves that the hermits inhabited. We will be concerned only with one cave, in which the Virgin Mary hid during her journey in Egypt. Saint Macrobius later transformed the cave into a church. The iconostasis in this church consists of stone re-assembled in the first century AD, depicted with the shapes of the hieroglyphic Ankh sign and offerings. Copts carved some crosses, olive branches, and a fish on it.
Virgin Mary Church
The church has two altars: the main one bears the name of the Virgin and is surmounted by a dome. The other one bears the name of the archangel Michael and is also surmounted with a crown. Also, numerous wall paintings are at the cave’s western end. All the architectural elements of the church’s niches, walls and ceilings were painted, probably in the sixth century. These early murals were plastered over in the eleventh or twelfth century. Christians also repainted them with a series of saints, angels, and the Apostles’ Communion on the north wall.
Niches
Copts cut the niches in all walls of the quarry. The niches have beautiful conches and a gable-shaped upper part, reminiscent of the cavities in the churches of the monasteries in Sohag. As in the Monastery of Saint Pshai (Red Monastery) church, Dayr El-Ganadla dates back to the same period. In other words, all architectural elements of the niches, the walls, and the ceiling paintings probably date back to the sixth century. Monks also decorated the interiors of the cavities with crosses set with gemstones (not one is alike) and inscriptions of the names of Christ as Savior through the cross.
Walls
Ornamental borders, gemstone crosses, branches, and leaves decorate the walls in various patterns.
Ceiling
The architecture of the niches with painted crosses inside them has a repetitive theme in the paint on the walls. Copts painted the ceiling with a cassette pattern filled with decorative motifs and similar crosses in medallions. However, the upper part of the walls and the high top present a series of unique paintings: canopies (a domed roof resting on columns) with plant motifs in between. At the same time, curtains drawback and hang between the columns, revealing a vase or across.
The Apostles’ Communion on the north wall: Christ, standing behind the altar as a priest, distributes bread and wine to his disciples. The early murals were plastered in the eleventh or twelfth century and repainted with saints and angels. Though suffering considerable detail, fortunately, restorers people expertly fixed these paintings. Although damaged, the extraordinary quality of the murals of the previous layer is still discernible.
Brickwork
The brickwork of the sanctuary dates from the nineteenth century. However, Christians used the quarry as a church during earlier times.
Apse
Copts constructed an apse with a small room to the north at the wide former entrance to the quarry.
Altar
Copts used masonry to build the altar screen and reused pieces of sculpture, decorative borders, and stelae. The origin of this collection is unknown, but they probably date to the time of the original church.
Art Influence on the Paintings
Nature has attracted Coptic artists through the ages. That is obvious in borrowing several floral elements in their art and architecture. Indeed, the Holy Virgin Mary church, lying in El-Ganadla Monastery, is an excellent example of this kind of Coptic art. The church’s mural paintings date back to the sixth century and were repainted in the eleventh century. El-Ganadlah church has images rich with unique floral motifs such as olive, grapevine, laurel plant, palm branches, lotus, leaves and rosettes rising from vases. Such floral motifs are of native species with Christian religious significance. In addition, Coptic artists adopted descriptive and analytical research methods to identify plants and flower species shown in the church.
