Banganarti
Banganarti is a small village in Sudan , about halfway between the 3rd and 4th Nile Cataracts , about 10 km from Old Dunqula , the capital of Makuria . Remnants of remarkable medieval churches have been found near this village.
Big church at Banganarti
The large church near Banganarti has been excavated by a Polish team since 2001 . Two consecutive churches were discovered here, which were built between the 7th and 11th centuries. Various tombs were found in the buildings, which may have been the destination of pilgrims . Around the church was a walled area of approx. 80 × 100. It was also decorated with high quality wall paintings. Walls that are not decorated are covered with inscriptions in bad Greek , Old Nubian, or a mixture of both languages. The inscriptions name some of the Nubian kings that have not been documented so far and other important people, e.g. B. a queen mother. They are therefore of great historical importance.
meaning
Banganarti was obviously a very important Christian pilgrimage center. The last inscriptions date from around 1350. Around this time the church seems to have been abandoned.
literature
- Bogdan Zurawski: The Dongola Reach, The Southern Dongola Reach Survey Project, 2002 , In: Polish Archeology in the Mediterranean XIV, Reports 2002 , 2003, pp. 241-252
Web links
- Bogdan Zurawski: Madonna of Bangarnati. (PDF; 289 kB) In: Focus on Archeology , 1 (13) 2007, pp. 28–31
- Bangarnati (Sudan). Newsletter 2006, University of Warsaw (English)
Coordinates: 18 ° 10 ' N , 30 ° 46' E