Monastery of Sir Bani Yas
The Church of the East monastery on Sir Bani Yas is an archaeological site in the United Arab Emirates discovered in 1992.
The Church of the East monastery on Sir Bani Yas is an archaeological site in the United Arab Emirates discovered in 1992. The site is significant as evidence of the presence of pre-Islamic Arabian Christianity in the UAE and belonged to the historical region of Beth Qatraye. Believed to be Nestorian, the Christian community continued for at least a century after the arrival of Islam.
The monastery was found through the investigative work of the Abu Dhabi Islands Archaeological Survey, or ADIAS, which documented sites and potential sites of archaeological significance across the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. With a mandate to preserve key sites of historical interest in the face of the Emirates' rapid development, ADIAS' work has resulted in dozens of surveys of critical sites across the Emirate. ADIAS' head, Peter Hellyer, was project director of the excavations of the monastery between 2009 and 2012.
In 1992 the remnants of an ancient buried building on the eastern side of the island of Sir Bani Yas were discovered, and through further excavations were found to be a 7th-century Church of the East Christian monastery which operated for 150 years. The site consists of a church, a monastery, and a series of courtyard houses, including dormitories, a kitchen, cells, and burial sites dating to the 7th and 8th centuries CE. The monastery is believed to have housed between 30 and 40 monks. The complex was built around the sole burial found on the site. Archaeological finds indicate contact with Bahrain, India and Iraq. the site is part of a series of Christian complexes across the Persian Gulf region including Kuwait at both Akkaz and Al Qusur on Failaka Island, at Kharg on the Iranian coastline and in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia at Jubail.
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