Monastery of St Macarius the Great (Deir Abu Maqar)

Why go

Deir Abu Maqar grew from the cell and church of St Macarius the Great in the fourth century and is the southernmost monastery of Wadi el-Natrun. From the sixth century it served as a residence of Coptic patriarchs. Its Church of St Macarius keeps three sanctuaries, twelfth-century wall paintings in the northern one, and reliquaries of the three saints named Macarius and of St John the Baptist and the prophet Elisha, rediscovered during 1976 restoration. A fortified keep and old cells survive alongside; its famous manuscript library was carried off to European collections from the 1600s.