Dayr Al-Shahid Tadrus Al-Muharib

dayr al-shahid tadrus al-muharib, unoccupied monastery southwest of madinat habu, the great Temple of the Dead of Ramses iii. Also located in the vicinity is a Coptic cemetery that is still in use today. The church of this monastery has five altars arranged side by side, of which, however, only the three southern ones have a primitive origin. They belong to a hall church with three aisles, whose naos was subdivided into nine large domed bays of approximately the same size and of slightly accentuated breadth. The precinct of the khurus, (room between naos and sanctuary), separated from the lay area only by two stretches of wall standing in the middle of the room, is thus already clearly seen to be in the process of changing. The center bay of the khurus supports a more lavishly shaped and more elevated dome. This first building may have been erected in the advanced Mamluk period.