The monastery on the eastern side of the Nile from Minya, and a 30 minutes drive in northern direction, is no longer inhabited. Travellers to the place in the 18th century described it as poor place where monks lived together with normal families, and where all inhabitants were naked. Today it is mainly a small church where much of the interior is cut directly into the rock. Pillars form a tiny squared court in front of the typical sacred platform where a curtain keeps the most sacred items off-hands to non-clergy. But you can see it all through the peep-hole.
