From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Abu Mena
Abu Mena
Abu Mena * History
UNESCO World Heritage Site Menas of Alexandria was martyred in the late 3rd or early
4th century (see Early Christianity). Various 5th-centu-
The remains of the basilica at Abu Mena ry and later accounts give slightly differing versions of
his burial and the subsequent founding of his church.
Country Egypt
The essential elements are that his body was taken from
Type Cultural Alexandria on a camel, which was led into the desert be-
Criteria iv yond Lake Mareotis. At some point, the camel refused to
continue walking, despite all efforts to goad it. This was
Reference 90 taken as a sign of divine will, and the body’s attendants
Region ** Arab States buried it on that spot.
Inscription history
Inscription 1979 (3rd Session)
Endangered 2001–present
Location of Abu Mena in Egypt
Christ and Saint Menas in a 6th-century Egyptian icon
* Name as inscribed on World Heritage List
** Region as classified by UNESCO Most versions of the story state that the location of
the tomb was then forgotten until its miraculous redis-
Abu Mena (also Abu Mina Arabic: )أبو ميناwas a town, covery by a local shepherd. From the Ethiopian Synaxar-
monastery complex and Christian pilgrimage center in ium (E.A.W. Budge, trans.):
Late Antique Egypt, about 45 km southwest of Alexan-
And God wished to reveal the [place of the] body of
dria. Its remains were designated a World Heritage Site in
Saint Mînâs. And there was in that desert a certain
1979. There are very few standing remains, but the foun-
shepherd, and one day a sheep which was suffer-
dations of most major buildings, such as the great basili-
ing from the disease of the scab went to that place,
ca, are easily discernible.
and dipped himself in the water of the little spring
Recent agricultural efforts in the area have led to a
which was near the place, and he rolled about in it
significant rise in the water table, which has caused a
and was healed straightway. And when the shep-
number of the site’s buildings to collapse or become un-
herd saw this thing, and understood the miracle,
stable. The site was added to the list of World Heritage
he marvelled exceedingly and was astonished. And
in Danger in 2001. Authorities were forced to place sand
afterwards he used to take some of the dust from
in the bases of buildings that are most endangered in the
that shrine, and mix it with water, and rub it on the
site.
sheep, and if they were ill with the scab, they were
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Abu Mena
straightway healed thereby. And this he used to do hegoumenos, or abbot. Excavations suggest that the great
at all times, and he healed all the sick who came to xenodocheion, a reception area for pilgrims, may origi-
him by this means. nally have been a cemetery. A baptistery, adjacent to the
site of the original church, appears to have gone through
Word of the shepherd’s healing powers spread rapidly. at least three phases of development. Also uncovered was
The synaxarium describes Constantine I sending his sick a complex of wine presses, including underground stor-
daughter to the shepherd to be cured, and credits her age rooms, which dates to the 6th and 7th centuries.[5]
with finding Menas’ body, after which Constantine or-
dered the construction of a church at the site. (Some ver-
sions of the story replace Constantine with the late-5th Threats
century emperor Zeno, but archaeologists have dated the The site of Abu Mena was added to UNESCO’s World Her-
original foundation to the late 4th century).[1] By the late itage in Danger list in 2001 due to the threat of rising lo-
4th century, it was a significant pilgrimage site for Chris- cal water tables. The clay soil that surrounds the site be-
tians who sought healing and other miracles.[2][3] Me- comes unstable when wet and has led to the collapse of
nas flasks are a particular type of small terracotta am- cisterns and other structures about the ancient city.[8]
pullae sold to pilgrims as containers for holy water or
holy oil which are found very widely around the Western
Mediterranean, dating roughly from the century and a
See also
half before the Muslim conquest. They are cheaply-made • Church of Saint Menas (Cairo)
but impressed with images of the saint that are of signif- • Saint Fana
icance in the study of iconography; it is presumed they • Saint Mina Monastery in Mariut, the modern
were made around the city.[4] pilgrimage site, which borders the original Abu Mena
During the reign of Arcadius, the local archbishop ob- site to the north
served that crowds were overwhelming the small church. • Saint Menas
He wrote to the eastern emperor, who ordered a major
expansion of the facilities, the first of three major church
expansions which would eventually take place. By the
Notes
end of the Late Antique period, Abu Mena had become [1] Grossmann, Peter (1998). "The Pilgrimage Center of
the leading pilgrimage site in Egypt.[5][6] Abû Mînâ". in D. Frankfurter (ed.), Pilgrimage & Holy
Abu Mena was destroyed by the Muslim conquest of Space in Late Antique Egypt. Leiden-Boston-Köln,
the mid-7th century. Brill: p. 282
[2] Talbot, Alice-Mary (2002). "Pilgrimage to Healing
Shrines: The Evidence of Miracle Accounts".
Archaeological excavations Dumbarton Oaks Papers (Dumbarton Oaks, Trustees
56:
for Harvard University) 56 pp. 153–173.
doi:10.2307/1291860. JSTOR 1291860.
[3] Armstrong, Gregory T. (1967). "Constantine’s
Churches". Gesta (International Center of Medieval
Art) 6: pp. 1–9. doi:10.2307/766661. JSTOR 766661.
[4] Anderson, William. An Archaeology of Late Antique
Pilgrim Flasks, Anatolian Studies, Vol. 54, (2004), pp.
79-93, British Institute at Ankara.
[5] ^ Bagnall, Roger S. (2001). "Archaeological Work on
Hellenistic and Roman Egypt, 1995-2000". American
Journal of Archaeology (Archaeological Institute of
The Christian monastery of Abu Mena America) 105 (2): pp. 227–243. doi:10.2307/507272.
JSTOR 507272.
The site was first excavated from 1905 to 1907. These [6] Weitzmann, Kurt (1977). "The Late Roman World".
efforts uncovered a large basilica church, an adjacent The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (The
church which had probably housed the saint’s remains, Metropolitan Museum of Art) 35 (2): pp. 2–96.
and Roman baths.[7] doi:10.2307/3259887. JSTOR 3259887.
A later, long-term series of excavations by the DAI [7] Wilber, Donald N. (1940). "The Coptic Frescoes of
ended in 1998. The most recent excavations uncovered Saint Menas at Medinet Habu". The Art Bulletin
a large dormitory for poor pilgrims, with separate wings (College Art Association) 22 (2): pp. 86–103.
for men and for women and children. A complex to the doi:10.2307/3046689. JSTOR 3046689.
south of the great basilica was likely the residence of the [8] UNESCO World Heritage in Danger List
2
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Abu Mena
Further reading External links
• O’Brien, Harriet (June 18, 2006). "The World’s Most • Abu Mena at UNESCO World Heritage Centre;
Remarkable Buildings Under Threat". The includes links to 360˚ panoramic photos of the site
Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/ Coordinates: 30°50′28″N 29°39′47″E / 30.840980°N
news-and-advice/the-worlds-most-remarkable- 29.663117°E / 30.840980; 29.663117 (Mina (Abu Mena))
buildings-underthreat-404572.html.
• ICOMOS Heritage at Risk 2001/2002
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Abu_Mena&oldid=462236537"
Categories:
• World Heritage Sites in Egypt
• Archaeological sites in Egypt
• Coptic settlements
• Former populated places in Egypt
• Christian monasteries established in the 4th century
• Coptic Orthodox monasteries
• World Heritage in Danger
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