From "An Introduction to the Red Monastery Church" by Elizabeth S. Bolman, Director of the USAID/ARCE Red Monastery Church Conservation Project
The Red Monastery Church as it now exists represents two
major phases of construction. The dramatic triconch sanctuary, including its
facade wall, and the adjoining side rooms were all built in the early Byzantine
period, though there are some vital medieval and early twentieth-century
structural interventions. Our dating of the church to the late fifth century
rests largely on a close analysis of the architectural sculpture in the church
by the architectural historian Dale Kinney. The tall exterior walls of the
church, which surround both the sanctuary and the area of the nave, were rebuilt
sometime between the tenth century and 1301, although they include two
monumental sculpted portals reused from the earlier structure. The fortified
tower on the southern side of the building is approximately contemporary with
the medieval walls. The galleries and roof of the medieval nave no longer
survive. It is possible that they were severely damaged during an earthquake. At
some point after the collapse of the roof and galleries, the sanctuary was
completely enclosed, and it functioned as a self-contained church, with an
altar in the eastern lobe, behind a screen. In the early twentieth century, the
late medieval wall enclosing the sanctuary was removed and replaced by a new
wall that incorporated the late medieval portal.
The triconch design of the sanctuary includes three apses
rather than the typical single one, which creates a more complex space and
provides a far broader field for large-scale images than exists in most church
sanctuaries. The early Byzantine paintings date from between the late fifth and
the sixth or early seventh centuries. They are located in the triconch, the
facade wall, and in the side rooms of the sanctuary. There were three principal
phases of early Byzantine paintings, as well as a much less comprehensive
fourth phase. Despite the often-repeated, but incorrect characterization of
Christian wall paintings in Egypt as frescoes, they are in fact made with
tempera or encaustic (wax-based) paint applied to dry plaster. The
stratigraphic ordering of the phases depends on the plaster layer (rendering).
For the most part, there is a close correlation between the plaster and paint
layers of the Byzantine phases, although the paintings of the first phase may
have been applied on the earliest rendering in different stages. All three of
the major early Byzantine periods of work included substantial areas of
ornamental paintings, especially the second phase. The smoke of lamps, and of
incense used in the liturgy, darkens surfaces quickly. During the course of
conservation, little or no buildup of soot and dust was discovered between the
Byzantine paint layers. This observation makes it possible to assert with
confidence that there were minimal lapses in time between the four Byzantine
programs; all were probably done within about a hundred years or even less. Additional
paintings from the medieval period probably range from the tenth to the late
thirteenth centuries, and comprise at least four phases of work. These later
paintings are found primarily on the nave walls, but some are also located on
the façade of the sanctuary.
--Elizabeth S. Bolman, Director of the USAID/ARCE Red Monastery Church Conservation Project, 2017