Abu Mena
The ruined pilgrimage city of St Menas in the desert south-west of Alexandria — a UNESCO site of the early Christian world.
The pilgrimage of St Menas
Abu Mena lies in the desert about 45 kilometres south-west of Alexandria, near Borg el-Arab. It grew up around the tomb of St Menas, a Christian soldier of Egyptian origin martyred, according to tradition, in the late third or early fourth century. Legend tells that the camel carrying his body refused to go further at this spot, and that miraculous healings soon followed at his grave. From the fifth to the seventh centuries, Abu Mena became one of the greatest pilgrimage centres of the Christian world, drawing pilgrims from across the Mediterranean, who carried home small clay flasks, the famous "Menas ampullae", stamped with the image of the saint between two camels and filled with holy water or oil; they have been found as far away as France and Britain.
The city
At its height, Abu Mena was a true city, with a great basilica — one of the largest in Egypt — built over the saint's tomb, a baptistery, churches, colonnaded streets, hostels for pilgrims, baths, workshops and houses. It declined after the Arab conquest and was abandoned by the ninth or tenth century. It was rediscovered by the German archaeologist Carl Maria Kaufmann in 1905, and excavations have continued since, notably by the German Archaeological Institute.
A site in danger
Abu Mena was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979. Since 2001 it has been on the List of World Heritage in Danger, after the rise in the water table caused by irrigation of the surrounding land led to the collapse of underground structures and threatened the ruins; measures to lower the water table have since been undertaken. Nearby stands the modern Monastery of St Mina, built from 1959 under Pope Cyril VI, a major Coptic pilgrimage centre.
Exhibo editorial
In the flat desert west of Alexandria, foundations and broken columns spread over a vast area: the remains of a city built for pilgrims, who came from as far as Gaul and Britain to pray at the tomb of a soldier-saint and went home with a little clay flask stamped with his image between two camels. You may have seen those flasks in a museum; this is where they came from.
Walk to the great basilica and the baptistery, and imagine the crowds. Then visit the modern monastery nearby, where the pilgrimage to St Menas lives on. If you have seen the camels with St Menas in the frescoes of the Red Sea monasteries, this visit completes the story.
Gallery
How to find it
Abu Mena lies about 45 km south-west of Alexandria, near Borg el-Arab, reached by car along the desert road. Follow the signs to the Monastery of St Mina; the archaeological site lies a short distance beyond the modern monastery.
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