the White Monastery (Dayr al-Abyad)

The White Monastery is a monastery built of white stone, which gave it its name. It lies west of the Nile, at the edge of the cliff overlooking the cultivated land, opposite Akhmim (Akhmim), and it is the monastery of Bu Shenouda. ¹

Ibn Fadl Allah al-Umari passed by it in the company of the sultan and described it. A long canal flows from the Nile and ends in a wide basin east of the monastery, overlooked by a hill of silt from the canals. He says he had never seen anything as pleasant in winter and spring. ¹