Deir el-Surian, Crossroads of Coptic and Syriac Culture, SOAS-University of London, August 24, 2016

On August 24, 2016, from 5–7pm, Dr. Dobrochna Zielinska (University of Warsaw) and Dr. Karel Innemée (University of Amsterdam) will discuss their recent work at Deir el-Surian. The event will take place in room L67.

The Monastery of the Holy Virgin of Bishoi (Wadi Natrun, Egypt) was founded in the 6th century, but since Syrian monks joined the Coptic community around 800AD, it was better known as Deir al-Surian, the Syrian monastery. For centuries monks of the two denominations lived together, creating an environment where material and immaterial heritage of the Coptic and Syriac Orthodox Churches were brought together, resulting in a unique library and a church with extraordinary wall paintings. Most of these paintings vanished out of sight when they were covered by plaster in the 18th century. Since 1996, these paintings have been gradually uncovered and give us an impression of the Syrian influence on Egyptian Christianity. In this lecture, special attention will be given to the most recent discoveries of the past two years.