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Help us to document Amarna’s monastic history
In 2000, excavations at the 5th-7th century monastic site of Kom el-Nana at Amarna unexpectedly revealed the sanctuary of the monastery’s church and, amongst the rubble, over a thousand fragments of painted plaster. During several study seasons, these were painstakingly rejoined to reveal part of the original decoration of the apse: a scene of Christ and the Apostles.
The next stage of the Kom el-Nana Church Painting Project is to disseminate this important attestation of early Christian faith, and of Amarna's later history. Can you help us with this? Your donation will be put towards the costs of publishing this work in full, and will help make this research accessible to a wide audience. No amount is too small.
Thank you – the Amarna Project Team
Supporting the Amarna Project
The ancient Egyptian city of Tell el-Amarna (or simply Amarna) was the short-lived capital built by the ‘heretic’ Pharaoh Akhenaten and abandoned shortly after his death (c. 1332 BCE). It was here that he pursued his vision of a society dedicated to the cult of one god, the power of the sun (the Aten). As well as this historic interest Amarna remains the largest readily accessible living-site from ancient Egypt. It is thus simultaneously the key to a chapter in the history of religious experience and to a fuller understanding of what it was like to be an ancient Egyptian. There is no other site like it.
The Amarna Project has developed from a long-running archaeological excavation carried out under the auspices of the Egypt Exploration Society, under permits from the Supreme Council of Antiquities of Egypt. Over the years the remit of the Project has extended to include repairs to ancient buildings, improvements to visitor access, creation of a visitor centre and perhaps, beyond this, a site museum.
Archaeology, although more popular than ever before, nevertheless attracts
limited public expenditure. Despite the contributions made by the Supreme Council of Antiquities
in administering the site, much that needs to be done can only by achieved
by outside support. It is to help channel support to the Amarna Project
that the Amarna Trust has been set up, a charity registered with the Charity
Commission of the United Kingdom.
