Project to restore Red Monastery in Suhag in cooperation with Italy

A report will be submitted soon to the SCA about the constructional condition of the Red Monastery that lies west of the Upper Egyptian city of Suhag.

Under a joint project with Italy, represented by the university of Rome, the monastery is planned to be restored.

Preliminary steps involved analyses of the environment and the surrounding area of the monastery as well as registering architectural and artist elements of the monastery. The monastery is actually connected to other sites as the White Monastery and Sheikh Hamad area.

A series of meetings were held between the Italian side and representatives of the South Valley University which is taking over the project on the Egyptian side.

The meetings have determined approaches to be taken, and information to be given about the environmental background of the area. The potential of the laboratories of the University's faculty of science is needed for chemical and geological analyses in order to start implementation by October.

According to Mohamed Abdul Satar, Director of the project, the Italian team has provided a data base on the project and prepared a framework on the relation between monasticism and christianity in Egypt on the one hand and Europe on the other. Discussions held, he said, revealed the importance of documenting religious and literary heritage related to the subject in order to serve the archaeological side.

Abdul Satar, however, said that in case the two universities would not be able to provide necessary funds to start implementation by next October, a report has to be referred to the SCA on the available finance in order to find other funding resources.

The Red Monastery is the first European project in the Mediterranean and is considered a specimen for cooperation among universities in the region.