White Monastery - Description of The Monastery

Description of The Monastery

The only surviving piece of the original monastery is its church complex, which was built in the Basilica style. It has six entrances; three centrally placed in the north, south, and west walls. The other three are located south of the west wall, east of the south wall, and east of the north wall. Its outer appearance shows an astounding resemblance to that of an Ancient Egyptian Temple. It has an interesting combination of exo- and eso-narthex leading into the body of the original church. This body, which is now an open courtyard, contains a nave flanked by two isles. They are being separated from the nave by long rows of columns with a returned isle in the west to define the eso-narthex. There existed atop these isles mezzanine galleries, as evidenced by the two rows of windows seen on the walls. To realize the grand style of this 5th century basilica, one needs only to observe the dimension of this open courtyard (no roof). It measures 172 feet long by 76 feet wide, of which the nave occupies half that width .

The current Church now occupies what used to be the choir and the sanctuary areas. This is separated from the open court by a solid red brick wall, of Middle Ages construction with doors and windows. The original sanctuary was built in a trefoil style with three apses. It is a step higher than the nave in the open court. The rectangular space defined by the apses to its north, south, and east sides; used to serve as the altar for the greater basilica. Now the altar is located within the central or eastern apse. The rest of the space is now integrated into the nave of the current Church. There is also a new iconstasis made with solid wood and adorned by small icons on its top register. The current sanctuary in the central apse is actually divided into three. The middle one is dedicated to Saint Shenouda the Archimandrite, the southern one to the Virgin Mary, and the northern one to Saint George.

The original three apses are of magnificent construction. Each contains two registers of columns separated by a decorative firese and surmounted by architraves. Between the columns there lie the niches. The horizontal cross-section of the niches in each register alternate between rectangular and circular. The semidome of each is decorated with beautiful design. Above the registers lies the majestic semidome. There paintings than can be distinguished in these semidomes. The one in the central apse has a painting of the Pantokrator and the four evangelists. In the northern apse, there is a depiction of the dormition of the Virgin Mary. The southern apse has a representation of the resurrection with the two Mary's and two angels.

The church complex has several annexes along the east and south walls. The most significant one of these is the great hall that runs alongside the south wall. This probably served the function of a woman chamber in the early days. It has a chamber at each of its east and west ends. The west chamber contains a well and it underwent reconstruction in the early 19th century. There are also two chambers south of the central apse and a third one to the north. On the south side, one chamber is rectangular with a font which is now used as a baptistery, and the second is circular with niches. On the north side, the chamber is square. There is another rectangular chamber west of the circular chamber and it is divided in half by two projecting buttresses.

There is a variety of building material employed in the construction of the church complex. This reflects the different stages that the monastery went through since the time of its foundation. The outer walls are of white limestone set in mortar with no bonding. They are sloped 6 degrees from vertical on the outside (original construction). The gargoyles and the door lintels are also of limestone with the door jambs being made of red granite. The source of these limestone is probably from ruins of nearby Ancient Egyptian temples, which Saint Shenouda the Archimandrite contributed to their demise figuratively and literally. The original nave columns are made of marble or granite with few later ones being of red bricks. Many of these columns are no longer standing. The paving of the nave is of limestone or granite slabs.

The original sanctuary is now roofed with vaults of burnt bricks, originally it had a wood roof. The nave, isles, and the great south hall (lateral narthex) are now without a roof, originally they had wood gabled roofs with galleries atop the isles. The wall between the exo-narthex and the body of the original church is of limestone. The great wall that defines the western boundary of the current church is made up of red bricks which encase the original columns and arches. This now is covered with a cream-color stucco layer. The four arches carrying the squinches of the central, original, sanctuary dome are also made up of red bricks except for the one toward the east witch is of marble construction.