Nubian Villages | القرى النوبية

[kenndo]

Towns, villages and houses
From MedNub


Medieval Nubians, like all peasant farmers before and since, lived in tightly clustered villages, which might vary in size from a few houses to several hundred. There were no communities in Nubia that would qualify as "cities" by modern standards; even the royal capitals at Dongola and Soba, and the great ecclesiastical centers of Faras and Qasr Ibrim, probably numbered no more than a few hundred inhabitants. Some large villages like Meinarti and Arminna probably functioned as market towns, though specific identifying features are lacking. Most settlements however were no more than farming villages, comprising family residences plus one or more churches. Because of the limited agrarian resources of Nubia, they were seldom anywhere near as large as the peasant villages of Egypt.

The medieval Nubian house was a single family residence, having only one entry. It was usually constructed of mud brick, except at a few localities where rough stone was preferred. The structures show a distinctly marked evolutionary development. Early Christian houses, like those of the preceding Ballana period, were generally small and irregular in plan, with thin walls that can only have supported a flat roof. No consistently recurring layout of rooms has been identified.

The houses of the Classic Christian period, though still generally thin-walled, were consciously larger than those of the earlier period, bespeaking the country's increased prosperity. The typical plan consisted of a fairly large front room, to which the outside door opened, two or more smaller store rooms behind the front room, and an L-shaped passage leading beside and then behind the store rooms to a latrine at the back of the house. This feature of "indoor plumbing" was the single most unique feature of medieval Nubian housing, and it persisted until the end of the period.

Houses of the Late Christian period reflected the increasingly disturbed conditions of the time, specifically the danger of marauders. While the basic house plan remained the same, the thin walls of earlier times gave way to much heavier walls, and flat, timbered roofs were replaced by brick barrel-vaults. Many houses now had one or more store rooms that had no lateral entrance; they could be entered only from above, by ladders. These structures, unlike those of earlier times, did not share party-walls with their neighbors; each was built as an architecturally self-contained unit. As a result, they are sometimes called "unit houses."

In the Terminal Christian period there appeared also a kind of two-story fortified structure that has been termed the "castle-house." The upper floor retained the typical house plan of earlier times, with front room, store rooms, and latrines, while the lower floor consisted mostly or entirely of blind cellars that could be entered only from above. A special feature of all these structures was a secret chamber so cleverly concealed within the thickness of the walls that it might escape the notice even of marauders. Only about 30 "castle-houses" have been identified, scattered mostly through the region of Batn el-Haggar, although there were also a few in Lower Nubia. Most villages had only a single "castle-house," alongside a much larger number of ordinary dwellings. Probably, like the local castles of medieval Europe, it served as a place of refuge for the whole village in times of attack. In addition, a few late settlements were fortified.

Sources: Adams 1977, 488-85; Welsby 2002, 112-37. For "castle-houses," Adams 1994.

(Contributed by William Y. Adams.)
Retrieved from "http://www.medievalnubia.info/dev/index.php/Towns,_villages_and_houses"
Category: Adams

[kenndo]

Nubian architecture
Christian Nubia
The Christianization of Nubia began in the 6th century AD. Its most representative architecture are churches. They are based on Byzantium Basilicas. The structures are relatively small and made of mud bricks. The church is rectangular in shape with North and South isles. Columns are used to divide the nave. On the East side is the apse. The altar stood in front of the apse. The area between the altar and apse was called the Haikal. At the West, was a tower or upper room also in the South corner and North corner. Doors were in the North and South walls. A few church survived which were more elaborate, were built of stone, two in Faras and the Ghazail Church.

Church painting with biblical themes were extensive but few survived. The best surviving church painting were on the Rivergate Church of Faras and the Church of Ab El Qadir.

Vernacular architecture of the Christian period is scarce. Architecture of Soba is the only one that has been excavated . The structures are of sun dried bricks, same as present day Sudan, except for an arch.

One prominent feature of Nubian churches are vaults(dome) made out of mud-bricks. The mud-brick structure was revived by Egyptian architect Hassan Fathy after rediscovering the technique in the Nubian village of Abu al-Riche . The technology is advocated by environmentalist as environmentally friendly and sustainable, since it makes use of pure earth without the need of timber.

______________________________________________________
In architecture, a Nubian vault is a type of curved surface forming a vaulted structure. The mudbrick structure was revived by Egyptian architect Hassan Fathy after re-discovering the technique in the Nubian village of Abu al-Riche. The technology is advocated by environmentalists as environmentally friendly and sustenable since it makes use of pure earth without the need of timber.
The technology is of Egyptian origin.

One of the key advantages of the Nubian vault is that it can be built without any support or shuttering. The earth bricks are laid leaning at a slight slope against the gable walls in a length-wise vault, as in this photo of a building from the ruins of Ayn Asil in Egypt. The same principle can be used to build domes, as in the example below from Cameroon.

The age-old Nubian vault technique was notably revived by the Egyptian architect Hassan Fathy in the 1940s with the building of a new village at Gourna, near Luxor. Architecturally, this village is a singular success; however, the families who were moved there soon abandoned it to return to their original village.

More recently, since the year 2000, a French /Burkinabé NGO La Voute Nubienne, by simplifying and codifying the VN (Voute Nubienne) technique, has promoted the construction of over 250 vaulted buildings in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Senegal (mainly village homes, but also a Catholic church, several mosques, schools, literacy centres, and a dispensary). These environmentally sound, comfortable, and aesthetic buildings require neither imported sheet metal for the roofing, nor expensive and increasingly rare timber beams. Over 150 masons have been trained in the technique, and there are as many apprentices currently undergoing on-the-job training on building sites (2009). The programme organised by the Association "Earth roofs for the Sahel" is developing rapidly year on year in response to demand from rural families, with many requests for help and technical advice coming from the countries of the Sahel, and from further afield (a programme was launched in Zambia in early 2009, under the aegis of AVN-Belgium).

[Montrealers]

Nubian have such a beautiful language and people , i love that music

[xJamaax]

Their historic looks is great!

[l-ray]

I heard that those socalled Nubians get little assistance from the Egyptian government and yet build those homes/villages with their barehands....Cleary the socalled Nubians are some of the few true children of the Pharoghs still residing in The Modern Arab Republc Egypt.

[Azmat]

Originally Posted by l-ray

Cleary the socalled Nubians are some of the few true children of the Pharoghs still residing in The Modern Arab Republc Egypt.

The Nubian kingdoms (Kingdom of Kush/Kerma/Meroe) and ancient Egypt were two completely different civilizations despite their similarities, so no, they are not the only "true children of the Pharoghs".

[l-ray]

Originally Posted by Azmat

The Nubian kingdoms (Kingdom of Kush/Kerma/Meroe) and ancient Egypt were two completely different civilizations despite their similarities, so no, they are not the only "true children of the Pharoghs".

Nah Ancient Ta-seti(socalled Nubia)was the mother of Kemite(socalled Ancient Egypt) and as opposed to most Modern Egyptian arabs whom roots are in the Middle East(Persian,Turk,Gulf Arabia,Leviant) and/or (Rome,Greece) the socalled Nubians are one of the few ethnic groups still residing in Egypt that are natives to the land and direct descendents to the Kemites(socalled Ancient Egyptians).

[Azmat]

Originally Posted by l-ray

Nah Ancient Ta-seti(socalled Nubia)was the mother of Kemite(socalled Ancient Egypt) and as opposed to most Modern Egyptian arabs whom roots are in the Middle East(Persian,Turk,Gulf Arabia,Leviant) and/or (Rome,Greece) the socalled Nubians are one of the few ethnic groups still residing in Egypt that are natives to the land and direct descendents to the Kemites(socalled Ancient Egyptians).

You don't even know the meaning of the word Arab. There have been numerous studies in both Egypt and other countries that have shown that the absolute majority of Egyptians can trace their ancestry to ancient Egypt and Nubians were not Kemites because, again, ancient Egypt was not a Nubian kingdom unlike the Kingdom of Meroe, Kush and Kerma.

[lady gaga]

Originally Posted by Azmat

You don't even know the meaning of the word Arab. There have been numerous studies in both Egypt and other countries that have shown that the absolute majority of Egyptians can trace their ancestry to ancient Egypt and Nubians were not Kemites because, again, ancient Egypt was not a Nubian kingdom unlike the Kingdom of Meroe, Kush and Kerma.

Those are in Sudan

[Azmat]

Parts of them were in Upper Egypt until ancient Egypt conquered them in war.

[eskandarany]

Originally Posted by l-ray

I heard that those socalled Nubians get little assistance from the Egyptian government and yet build those homes/villages with their barehands....

Nobody gets assistance from the egyptian govt apart from the country's enemies

[egypt69]

Guys, this is not a thread to argue in, it's a photo thread. If argumentative posts continue they will be deleted and posters could face punishment.

Thank you

[xAbd0o]

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[xAbd0o]

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by ~jimo66

Bueatiful, I love it!

[markuk]

Really nice pics.Thanks for it.