White Monastery Fragments in the University of Michigan Collection

The Monastery of Apa Shenoute, commonly known as the White Monastery, situated in Upper Egypt near Sohag, once possessed the largest Coptic library in Egypt. Unfortunately, none of the books that belonged to this monastery have survived intact. As the manuscripts were torn to pieces and sold to various individuals, fragments of them are scattered today in different collections around the world. The University of Michigan features prominently as one of the most significant repositories of White Monastery fragments. Using some of these, our workshop aims to document the content of the White Monastery library, offering at the same time a glimpse into the methods of reconstructing dismembered manuscripts out of scattered fragments.

This workshop will be presented by Dr. Frank Feder and Dr. Alin Suciu from the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities. The workshop is offered with support from the Department of Middle East Studies and the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology.