The PCMA Research Centre in Cairo invites to an open lecture: “The Power of the Apostles in Egypt and Nubia. New Comments on Mediaeval Wall Paintings” by Magdalena Łaptaś (Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw).
Abstract:
The twelve Apostles were chosen by Christ as his disciples. The number twelve had special meaning as, after the death of Judas, his position was assigned to Matthias [Acts 1: 26]. Yet Roman tradition considers it was Paul, not Matthias, who replaced Judas. Although this tradition was widespread through the Mediterranean, Paul was omitted in Nubian apostolic images., a discovery that forces us to address this divergence. Paul’s omission in Nubian images of the Twelve raises the importance of Andrew in Nubia. Relics of Andrew were transported from Patras to Constantinople in the 4th century and, according to later tradition, he was a founder of the See of the Byzantine Empire. Some Egyptian images of Andrew demonstrate the strength of his cult there. The aim of this lecture is to discuss some questions connected with a conscious development of the apostolic tradition at the Nile Valley, which was based upon such apostles as Peter, Andrew, John and Mark.
Magdalena Łaptaś is an art historian and archaeologist working at the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw. She previously worked in the Faras Gallery of the National Museum in Warsaw. Since 2001 she has participated in the excavations at Banganarti (Sudan), and was also a member of the restoration missions in Kaftun and Ma’ad (Lebanon). Her main fields of research are the Mediterranean mediaeval art, Byzantine and Nubian art, with a special focus on the iconography of paintings acquired during Polish excavations in Sudan. She currently directs a project by the Polish Science Centre in Egypt entitled “The Apostolic College in the Monumental Painting of Mediaeval Egypt”.
Lecture: “The Power of the Apostles in Egypt and Nubia. New Comments on Mediaeval Wall Paintings”
Magdalena Łaptaś (Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw)
Tuesday, 16th of October 2018, 6:00 p.m.
PCMA Research Centre in Cairo 11, Mahalla St., Heliopolis