THE MINISTRY OF ANTIQUITIES AND TOURISM WAS MADE AWARE OF THE PENDING DISASTER AS EARLY AS 31 DECEMBER 2019. IT DID NOTHING TO REPAIR THE COLLAPSING WALL
Yesterday, I published the bad news of the collapse of the northern wall of the White Monastery which was reported on 6th of January 2022 by the Coptologist Monica Hanna. In her tweet, she attributed the collapse to the constant delays of the works of repair. I have in my article suggested that the triad of incompetence, corruption, and neglect which plaques Egypt and its subsequent governments, was responsible. This triad affects everything in Egypt, but in the case of Coptic antiquities, anti-Coptism is a major additional factor. Coptic antiquities are particularly neglected.
The warnings about the pending collapse of the northern walls of the White Monastery were pointed to the Egyptian authorities as early as 31st of January 2019. On that day, Ibrahim Saweres, a Coptologist at the Sohag University’s Faculty of Antiquities, wrote about the danger which was caused by public construction works outside the monastery. He appealed to the Ministry of Antiquities and Tourism to do something before the walls collapsed. He noted that outer and inner walls of the monastery were showing significant cracks, which were getting worse with time, and that the inner wall was leaning towards the interior.
Saweres accompanied his post on Facebook with photographs, which I publish some of here.