Vol.I - The Coptic Orthodox Church

354 Ancient Coptic Churches. [OH. vm.
that on which they had been fired by the Mamelukes.
It is from Denon 1 that I have borrowed the plan in
the text, making such modifications or additions as
are warranted by his own or by independent information
: and it must be remembered that his de-
anterior to that of
scription is thirty-nine years
Curzon. Denon very distinctly speaks of an altar
as standing within the apse of the narthex though
it was adorned with neither gold nor gems in his
day :
and
not only does he place the baptistery in
the southernmost division of the narthex in the plan,
but in the text he expressly describes it as containing
a '
superbe citerne/ a magnificent font or basin for
total immersion. This basin seems to have been
sunk in a platform of masonry, which was ascended
by a short flight of stairs. Here then it was that in
the days of the foundation of the church neophytes
and proselytes were baptized, and immediately afterwards
received their first communion in the opposite
chapel : but it will be noticed that the baptistery has
its outer vestibule.
Regarding the adornment of the chapel, Denon
does not contribute much to our : knowledge but he
mentions that the columns round the wall were
joined by a circular architrave, with frieze and cornice
above, and that the whole entablature was
surmounted by a conch. Precisely the same architectural
features are found in each of the three
eastern apses, which vary curiously from the usual
1
See Voyages dans la Basse et la Haute Egypte en 1798-9, par
V. Denon. London, 1807. The narrative is in vol. i. p. 157 seq. ;
the elevation and plan are given in the volume of plates, pi. x ; the
description of the plate
is in vol. ii.