Egypt’s Monastery of Saint Fana inspected after non-archaeological wall collapses

CAIRO – 20 July 2020: Deputy Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities for Islamic and Coptic Antiquities Affairs Gamal Mustafa went to Mallawi, El-Minya, leading an engineering archaeological committee, to follow-up on the partial collapse of the added non-archaeological northern wall of the ancient Monastery of Saint Fana.

Head of the Islamic, Coptic and Jewish Antiquities Sector Osama Talaat explained that the collapsed part of the fence is not archaeological, but was added as a ramp and was in a poor state of conservation, stressing that the collapse did not result in any material or human injuries, and that the archaeological church was not affected and is in a good state of conservation.

Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Mostafa Waziri stated that the incident is being currently investigated on behalf of the council, which attaches great importance to the Coptic heritage of Egypt and has restored many Coptic monasteries and churches, including Deir Anba Bidaba in Naga Hammadi, The Hanging Church, and Anba Bishoy Monastery in Wadi el-Natroun, among others.