Old Dongola
Old Dongola, also known as Tungul in Old Nubian, is a ruined Nubian town in Northern State, Sudan, on the east bank of the Nile opposite Wadi Howar. It was a major medieval city and the capital of the Makuria kingdom from around the 6th to the 13th centuries, and a key starting point for caravans heading west to Darfur and Kordofan. The town began as a fortress founded in the 5th century, with a citadel that housed the royal residence.
Christianity arrived in the area in the mid-6th century, and Old Dongola grew beyond the fortress. Several churches were built, including the Church with the Stone Pavement and Building X, which stood near the town walls. Toward the end of the 7th century, the Church of the Granite Columns was erected, a grand structure with 16 granite columns that may have been the cathedral. The main churches were destroyed during mid-7th-century conflicts but were rebuilt soon after, and some building materials were reused to repair the city walls.
The city reached its height in the 9th to 11th centuries and remained active into the 14th century. It had many churches, several palaces, and a large monastery to the north. A monumental Throne Hall, built in the 9th century, stood on a rocky spur outside the fortress. In 1317 this building was converted into a mosque, which was used for worship until 1969 when it became a historic monument. The town’s prosperity faded in the 13th and 14th centuries, and it suffered repeated attacks. A 1317 inscription mentions a military expedition by the Egyptian sultan, and the royal court left Dongola in 1364. Under the Funj sultanate the place became the capital of the northern provinces. By the 17th century an Islamic cemetery reminded people of Old Dongola’s continuing importance.
In the 18th century, traveler Charles-Jacques Poncet described Old Dongola as a site with strong trade relations with the East and with Europe, though trade declined after the rise of New Dongola downstream. In 1812 the Mamluks captured Old Dongola and founded New Dongola, shifting the region’s economic center. An extensive Islamic cemetery from the 17th century remained significant into later times.
Polish archaeologists began work at the site in 1964, led by Kazimierz Michałowski, with later directions by Stefan Jakobielski and Włodzimierz Godlewski. The ongoing UMMA project, started in 2017, studies the younger layers of the site. In 2021, archaeologists announced a newly found church apse with paintings and a nearby tomb area that could belong to a cathedral, suggesting further wealth of discoveries beneath the surface. In 2023, researchers reported ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs carved on stone blocks from a Pharaonic temple, along with striking wall paintings, including a Virgin Mary and a scene showing the archangel Michael holding a Nubian king.
Today the Old Dongola site covers about 200 hectares. The southern part contains the citadel, royal buildings, and public structures, while the northern part reveals large suburban houses and a major monastery. There are extensive cemeteries from various periods, including notable tombs and crypts, such as that of Archbishop Georgios, who died in 1113. Old Dongola remains an important site for understanding medieval Nubia and the region’s connections to trade across Africa, the Middle East, and Europe.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 01:35 (CET).