Painted Medieval Church Walls Discovered in Norther Sudan

A team from the Center of Mediterranean Archeology at the University of Warsaw is excavating the church of Raphael, part of a royal complex of buildings at the site of Dongola, the capital of Makuria which is a medieval kingdom located in what is now northern Sudan. The church's pulpit was made with hieroglyph-inscribed granite blocks repurposed from a pharaonic temple.Images of archangels, angels , priests, saints and officials of the Nubian kingdom were painted on smooth lime wall plaster with expensive pigments. Each person depicted in the paintings was also identified and described, One of the inscriptions records a meeting at the church attended by the bishops of Makuria, the archbishop of Dongola and the king. 

According to the researchers, the church was founded by king Joannes, until now nothing much is known about him. The inscription proves that he was an important person in the hierarchy of the church and had considerable political influence.