Deir (Monastery) El-Baramus

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Dedicated to the Virgin of Baramus , Deir El-Baramus (also named the Monastery of the Romans) is probably the first monastery established in the Wadi El-Natron . The tradition of the place says that the monastery was built in the site where Saint Macarius lived .
The name 'Baramus'– which means "That of the roman"– comes from a group of Romans who went to live in the monastery as early as St . Macarius himself , and on the place of their cells , after their death , a chapel was built .
The monastery was identified also as the Monastery of Saint Moses the Black , who was an Ethiopian repented criminal , killed in the 5th century , during the attack of the nomads .
Like the other buildings in the area , the monastery was damaged throughout the attacks of the desert nomads and was restored several times .
In the 9th century , Patriarch Shenouda II built the walls around the monastery to protect it from the nomads' attacks . Covered by a thick layer of plaster , these wall (still survive) measure about 11 m high and 2 m thick . Above the walls , there is a walkway . The actual entrance is on the eastern side .