Qualla: Old Dongola https://qualla.com/old-dongola en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:29 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/s/e/j/z/old-dongola-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Old Dongola https://qualla.com/old-dongola Old Dongola: Introduction https://qualla.com/old-dongola/ Photo credit Hans Birger Nilsen, CC BY-SA 2.0. In February 2023, Polish archaeologists brushing plaster in a medieval Nubian ruin uncovered something no one expected: a painted scene of the archangel Michael cradling a Nubian king in his arms, presenting him to Jesus, who sits on a cloud and extends a hand for the king to kiss. The team leader, Artur Oluski, noted dryly that this degree of intimacy between mortal and immortal is "completely uncommon for Byzantine Christian art." But this was not Byzantium. This was Old Dongola - Tungul, in Old Nubian - and the Makurians had always done things their own way.

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Image: Hans Birger Nilsen | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/e/j/z/old-dongola-wp/sejz-old-dongola-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Old Dongola: Capital in the Desert https://qualla.com/old-dongola/ Photo credit Hans Birger Nilsen, CC BY-SA 2.0. The archaeological site sprawls across 200 hectares on the Nile's east bank, opposite the mouth of Wadi Howar. A fifth-century fortress came first - a walled citadel with palaces and public buildings, guarding the river and the caravan routes that led west to Darfur and Kordofan....

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Image: Hans Birger Nilsen | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/e/j/z/old-dongola-wp/sejz-old-dongola-capital-in-the-desert.mp3 0:06 2 full Old Dongola: The Church of the Granite Columns https://qualla.com/old-dongola/ Photo credit CC BY 2.0. At the end of the seventh century, over the foundations of the battered Old Church, the Makurians raised the Church of the Granite Columns. Sixteen granite columns held up its roof, each topped with a richly carved capital. It may have been the cathedral of the city - the heart o...

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]]> Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/e/j/z/old-dongola-wp/sejz-old-dongola-the-church-of-the-granite-columns.mp3 0:06 3 full Old Dongola: A City Empties Out https://qualla.com/old-dongola/ Photo credit Hans Birger Nilsen, CC BY-SA 2.0. The thirteenth and fourteenth centuries were cruel. Arab raids came again and again. An inscription dated 1317 records an expedition sent by the Sultan of Egypt to install his own nominee - Abdullah, possibly a Muslim Nubian - on the Makurian throne. The royal court left Dongola ...

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Image: Hans Birger Nilsen | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/e/j/z/old-dongola-wp/sejz-old-dongola-a-city-empties-out.mp3 0:06 4 full Old Dongola: What Polish Trowels Keep Finding https://qualla.com/old-dongola/ Photo credit Gytha, CC BY-SA 2.0. A Polish team from the University of Warsaw's Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology has been digging here since 1964 - six decades of patient, careful work. In May 2021 they announced the discovery of a church apse preserved to about nine meters deep, with two rows of coloss...

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Image: Gytha | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/e/j/z/old-dongola-wp/sejz-old-dongola-what-polish-trowels-keep-finding.mp3 0:06 5 full