The Convent of the Holy Virgin in Dronka at the foothill of Assiut’s Western mountain, some 350km south of Cairo, has repaired damage inflicted on a mosaic of the Holy Family at the entrance of the convent.
Unknown persons sprayed the faces of the Child Jesus, St Mary and St Joseph with black paint, in an attempt to disfigure the icon.
The mosaic has now been cleaned and restored it to its original condition.
The icon is located by the gate that leads to the convent, some 5km downhill.
The entrance had been built in joint effort between Assiut Governorate and the convent, within the national project to develop for religious tourism the 25 spots that were trodden by the Holy Family on its biblical flight into Egypt in the first AD century. Assiut’s Western Mountain at Dronka includes a grotto where the Holy Family is believed to have resided.
Watani International
9 January 2023