Red and White Monasteries

Two Fifth Century Monasteries Built From Reused Pharaonic Limestone And Roman Brick, And In The Red Monastery'S Sanctuary The Finest Late Antique Wall Paintings Surviving Anywhere In Egypt Columns, Saints And Painted Architecture Cleaned Back To Their Original Colour In A Conservation Project That Ran For Over A Decade · Sohag, Sohag

On the desert edge west of Sohag stand two fifth-century monasteries built largely out of older buildings - pharaonic limestone blocks in one case, Roman brick in the other - and inside the smaller of them is the finest surviving late-antique wall painting anywhere in Egypt. The Red Monastery's sanctuary was cleaned and consolidated over more than a decade of work that finished in the 2010s, and what came out from under the soot is a complete painted interior: columns in false marble, niches, saints and prophets in ochre, red and blue, the whole scheme reading as it did in the sixth century. It is a genuinely world-class thing that almost nobody sees. Six kilometres away the White Monastery is the opposite - a vast bare basilica shell of reused limestone with walls like a fortress, built for Shenoute, who ran one of the largest monastic federations in the ancient world from it. Sohag has had sectarian trouble in the past; check current advice before you travel.

On the desert edge west of Sohag, the White Monastery 6 km from the Red and both above the cultivation, Sohag, Sohag, Egypt

Both are working Coptic sites rather than museums and both receive visitors in daylight, free or for a small donation. Whether the Red Monastery's conserved sanctuary is open depends on the day and sometimes on finding a monk or caretaker, which is the single thing to establish on arrival - it is the reason to be here. The White Monastery's enclosure is usually open and its modern church is in regular use. As with every Coptic house, fasting periods restrict visiting on dates that move with the calendar, and dress is enforced: covered shoulders and knees, scarves for women inside. Sohag is three and a half hours north of Luxor by road or rail and is the base; there is no public transport to either gate, so a car and driver for a half day is the arrangement. Foreign visitors in Middle Egypt are sometimes assigned an escort.

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