The basement of the ancient medieval capital of Nubia with Christian paintings "without comparison"

For 1,000 years (from the 5th to the 14th century), Old Dongola (or Tungul, in the language of ancient Nubia) was the capital of Makuria, one of the most prominent African states of the Middle Ages, which was divided between the which today is northern Sudan and southern Egypt. The city, located on the banks of the Nile River, is now completely deserted.

Researchers from the University of Warsaw and the Polish Center for Mediterranean Archeology have spent years studying the remains of this great capital, the point from which the caravans of goods heading west to Darfur and Kordofan left.

Archaeologists, led by Dr. Artur Obłuski, keep coming up with amazing new finds year after year. And now perhaps they have found the most spectacular: a complex of rooms whose interior walls were covered with unique figurative scenes for Christianity.

It was Lorenzo de Lellis and Maciej Wyżgoł who unexpectedly came across the structures made of sun-dried brick and dating from the Funj period (16th-19th centuries), whose interiors were covered with artistic representations. Under the floor of one of the houses there was an opening that led to a small chamber, the walls of which were decorated with unique paintings.

“The interior paintings showed the Mother of God, Christ, as well as a scene depicting a Nubian king, Christ, and the Archangel Michael. However, this was not a typical depiction of a Nubian ruler under the protection of saints or archangels,” the experts explain in a statement.

According to the researchers, “the king bows down to Christ, who is sitting on the clouds, and kisses his hand. The ruler is supported by the Archangel Michael, whose outstretched wings protect both the king and Christ himself. “Such a scene has no parallel in Nubian painting. The dynamism and intimacy of the representation contrasts with the hieratic nature of the figures shown on the side walls. The image of the Virgin Mary on the north wall of the chamber does not belong to the typical repertoire of Nubian art representations either”, they add.

“The Mother of God, shown in a dignified pose, is dressed in dark robes. In her hands she holds a cross and a book. Christ is represented on the opposite wall. Her right hand is shown in a blessing gesture, and in her left she holds a book, which is preserved fragmentarily”.

The paintings are accompanied by Greek inscriptions that are now being studied by Dr. Agata DeptuÅ‚a. “A preliminary reading has allowed us to identify them as texts from the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts (Byzantine rite performed on the eve of Lent). An inscription in old Nubian that accompanies the main scene is extremely difficult to decipher,” says the specialist from the University of Warsaw.

A preliminary reading allowed archaeologists to learn that the phrases contain several mentions of a king named David and a plea to God to protect the city. “The city mentioned – they explain – is probably Dongola, and King David is probably the royal figure represented in the scene.”

David was one of the last rulers of Christian Makuria, and his time marked the beginning of the end of the kingdom. For unknown reasons, the monarch decided to attack Egypt, which retaliated by invading Nubia, and as a result, Dongola was sacked for the first time in its history. Perhaps the painting was created when the Mamluk army was approaching the city or already besieging it, according to the Polish researchers.

However, the biggest mystery for archaeologists is the complex of rooms in which the paintings were found. The spaces themselves, covered with vaults and domes and made of dry brick, are quite small. “The room with the painted scene showing King David looks like a crypt, but it is seven meters above the medieval ground level. The space is next to a sacred building identified as the Great Church of Jesus, which was probably the cathedral of Dongola and the most important church in the kingdom of Makuria”, they add.

Arab sources that recount King David’s attack on Egypt and the seizure of the port of Aidhab and Aswan, maintain that this act was instigated by the Great Church of Jesus. Archaeologists are now wondering if “the Archbishop of Dongola, like Pope Urban II, incited the Nubian monarch to launch a crusade.”

“Working in such a confined space, under time pressure and with the high temperatures typical of March in Sudan was extremely demanding. The paintings came off the walls in places, but the painted layer was remarkably well preserved. The experts strengthened the wall paintings, made protective bands and putties, and filled the empty spaces between the wall and the plaster with injection liquid”, they conclude.