1787.d.13, 2(16)

Genre: Archaeological Photography

View of the ruined buildings of the monastery, covering the hillside: 'The ruins at Feiran are chiefly those of the old episcopal city of Pharan, and the churches, chapels, convents and tombs connected with it. The convent of Feiran and its church, called by the Bedawin 'El Maharrad,' cover the surface of a quasi-isolated hill, situated at the junction of Wadies Aleyat and Feiran, and connected with the left bank of the latter valley by a low neck of land on which the houses of Pharan were built. The city was surrounded by a wall seven feet thick, and the convent, which occupies a strong position, probably served as a citadel into which the citizens could retreat in time of need. The wall is composed of small stones and mud, faced on each side with large unhewn boulders; large portions of it remain, but all that stood on the bank of Wady Aleyat has been destroyed by the great 'seils' or floods which come down from Jebel Serbal. The same irresistible power has swept away the cisterns of the convent, leaving huge fragments of them, hard burnt bricks with earthenware pipes, projecting from the torrent's bed, and has laid bare the ghastly contents of the sepulchral vaults. The principal walls of the convent, and many of those which divided it into cells, etc., still remain; they are built to a certain height with loose flat stones and mud, and then completed with sun-dried brick; this last has fallen down and almost filled the interior with its debris...' (part I, p. 210).

For another copy of this photograph, see the duplicate set (with the two additional volumes of photographs) at shelfmark Maps 29.d.28.