Vol.I - The Coptic Orthodox Church

CH. viii.] Upper Egypt. 363
iconostasis, which has two side-doors and no central
entrance, though this arrangement is not quite un-
paralleled in the churches of Upper Egypt, and may
be a later alteration. It will be noticed that the
church has a triple
western entrance from the
cloisters l .
The northernmost of the group of churches has
also some points which deserve remarking ; for it
seems to have contained four or more altars instead
of three, unless indeed one of the rectangular spaces
was rather a baptistery an unlikely supposition.
Again, the structure of the body of the church is
most peculiar, there being no sort of division into
nave and aisles, but merely a series of columns set
in quadrilaterals, and joined either by beams or
arches. Lastly, the church seems to have had no
western doorway, but several western windows, with
a considerable splay inwards.
Of the remaining two churches, one seems remarkable
for the subdivision of both nave and aisles
by walls or stone screens, each into three compartments
: it is curious too that the north aisle is con-
siderably wider than the nave, and the nave than the
south aisle. But the whole building, apparently, is
in a ruinous condition, the altars having been
demolished, and all the domes but two having
fallen. In contrast to this irregular structure the
last of the four churches is beautifully symmetrical,
but entirely different from any of the three former.
1 The steps in the north aisle seem to indicate the ambon, but
I have not been able to refer to Sir A. Gordon for information.
The arrangement of the doorway by the steps appears in any case
awkward.