Simon The Tanner - The Monastery of Saint Simon, Aswan

The Monastery of Saint Simon, Aswan

The Monastery of Saint Simon, Aswan does not seem have any direct connection with St Simeon. It is accessible by either crossing the desert from Qubbet el-Hawa or by sailing across the Nile from Aswan and then walking up the Wadi al-Qurqur. The monastery, which was originally dedicated to Anbâ Hadra of Aswân, was later renamed to Saint Simon.

It was built in the 7th century and reconstructed in the 10th century. By the 13th century, however, the monastery was in ruin; there was an inscription found there that said that a Mutammar Ali had visited in 1295 A.D. Although though the monastery was ruined, its main features were preserved.

One of the churches in the monastery had numerous Coptic inscriptions inside and there were slabs of stones giving the history of many of the monks that had lived there.