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Further north from Wadi el-Natrun, another Egyptian team has found a Coptic guesthouse, dating to the 5th century AD, in the Qalaya area of Hosh Issa (also in Beheira). The building has 13 multi-functional rooms for individual and communal living, as well as kitchens, storage areas, and rooms for hospitality. A large hall was uncovered as well, which contained stone platforms decorated with floral motifs, as well as a central prayer niche with a limestone cross. This arrangement marks a transition in Coptic monastic architecture from individual cells to semi-communal living arrangements.
The excavations also revealed several incomplete wall paintings of monastic figures, animals, and floral motifs, a complete two-metre-long marble column, pottery vessels, an inscribed limestone tombstone, and food remains in the form of shells and animal bones.
Text: Sarah Griffiths / Images: Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, unless otherwise stated
