Monastery of St. Anthony

The 6th century Coptic monastery of St. Anthony in the Red Sea mountains of Egypt’s Eastern Desert is decorated with wall paintings dated to the 13th century. These paintings and the building were conserved by the American Research Center in Egypt from 1996 until 2009. Read more about the ARCE project on their website here. 

“The paintings constitute the most complete and best-preserved iconographic program of Christian paintings to come from medieval Egypt.”

The paintings demonstrate connections between Byzantine and Islamic art while remaining rooted in Egypt’s own Christian traditions.