Old Dongola: history and ruins of the ancient capital of the Mukurra Kingdom

Lost among the Sands of Sudan are the ancient ruins of the city of Old Dongola, which was part of Nubia. It was located on the Eastern Bank of the Nile, in the IV-XIV centuries. it was a large city, the capital of the ancient Kingdom of Makuria. The first settlement appeared in the IV-V centuries: a fortress was built here, next to which people settled. When Christianity began to spread in Nubia, two churches were built in Dongola, which were destroyed in the seventh century and later restored.

Some of the building materials left over from the old churches were allocated for the construction of walls. In the X century, several other large religious buildings and monastic buildings were built here. According to the results of the excavations, there were beautiful houses in Dongol with paintings on the walls-apparently, the residential buildings belonged to the local rich. There are references to the fact that the city was inhabited by Genoese merchants who arrived here after the agreement between Egypt and Genoa, concluded in 1290.

In the XIII-XIV centuries. the city is going through hard times. Dongola was captured by the Arabs, and part of one of the palaces was turned into a mosque, as evidenced by the ruins. One of the stelae that has survived to this day was built in honor of Abdul, the Governor of the Sultan of Egypt. In the seventeenth century, judging by the notes traveler Charles Ponce, Dongola was as follows: most of the houses look bad, the city streets were covered with sand, a fortress rather frightened than protected, because strengthening obviously looked outdated.