ABSTRACT
At first glance, the vaults and domes made of adobe bricks in the medieval monastery church of Deir Anba Hadra appear simply typical to the region. However, a closer look at their construction enables new insights into form-finding processes and the combination of specific vault forms to produce differentiated formation of space. Tracing of historical origins reveals relationships in the development of vault forms and building typologies. The paper describes the church’s vault construction and explains the principles of determination of their geometry. In order to consider how this could have been implemented at a medieval construction site, experiences derived from traditional adobe construction in the area will be included. A comparative view of the Anba Hadra monastery church along with Nubian buildings as well as Christian and Muslim buildings in the Aswan region allows conclusions to be drawn regarding the intertwined handicraft tradition and cultural exchange in the region of the First Cataract of the Nile in the 10th century ce.
