Sir Baniyas Island
Seventh-century desert monastery of stone houses and carved plaster crosses, unearthed after thirteen centuries buried in sand.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Sir Baniyas Island in Abu Dhabi opens on a 1992 discovery: a forgotten seventh-century monastery of the Church of the East, buried under mudbrick and sand, complete with a church, stone houses and cisterns. It follows the artifacts unearthed there, from carved plaster crosses to traded glass and pottery, evidence of a community of monks who were craftsmen and traders as much as men of prayer. Picture archaeologist Hager al-Menhali kneeling in one of those nine stone houses in 2025, still finding new pieces of their story.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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