The Monastery of Anba Simeon in Aswan

The Monastery (Dayr) of Anba (Saint) Hadra is named after a local saint (Coptic: ⲁⲡⲁ ϩⲁⲧⲣⲉ / Apa Hatre) who lived in the late of the 4th and the beginning of the 5th century AD—first as a monk, and finally as the Bishop of Syene (Aswan). Every year on the 21st of December (the 12th of Kiahk in the Coptic calendar), a religious festival is held at the site on the anniversary of Anba Hadra’s death. Although it is known as the Monastery of Saint Simeon, the identity of this saint and his association with the monastery remain unknown.

The site is exceptional among historic monasteries in Egypt for the good state of preservation of its original structures built of stone and mud brick. Although the buildings slowly decayed after their gradual abandonment, the remaining architecture still gives a good idea of what a coenobitic monastery in Upper Egypt during the medieval era looked like. The evidence attests to religious activity here from the 6th to the beginning of 14th centuries.
A high enclosure wall surrounding the monastery with two gates endows the monastery. The monastery extends over two levels—a lower and an upper terrace—divided by a rocky escarpment. On the lower terrace there is a church as well as a series of small cave-like spaces that were later used as a part of the monastery. The most prominent of these is the grotto that is attributed to Anba Hadra. The upper terrace is dominated by a two-storey residential building with communal cells characteristic of a coenobitic monastery, a refectory, areas for food storage, oil presses, and ovens and an extensive workshop area which allowed the monks to maintain their livelihood within the confines of the monastery.
The church and the grotto are notable for the remains of the colourful wall paintings that still decorate some of their walls and ceilings. Some of the monks’ cells on the upper level, along with parts of the church walls, are notable for the Coptic and Arabic graffiti left by visitors and the monks of the monastery.

to download A Guide to Aswan click here!