Abdallah Nirqi

On the west bank of the Nile 287 km upriver from Philae. A sizable settlement apparently occupied from Early to Late Christian times. The Central Church was remarkable for its well preserved program of decoration, for the building had been submerged in sand before the end of the Christian period. This church was excavated by an expedition from the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden (Netherlands) from 1962 to 1964. Adjoining parts of the settlement as well as two outlying churches were excavated by an expedition from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 1964. Substantial parts of the settlement were not excavated.

Sources: For the Central Church, Van Moorsel et al. 1975. There are many additional articles on the church paintings; for a bibliography see Van Moorsel et al. 1975, 6. For the other churches and settlements, Castiglione et al. 1974-5.

(Contributed by William Y. Adams.)