The Levantine Foundation announced that it will hold a symposium on 3 December 2019 in the residence of the British ambassador residence in Cairo to review the work that has been done to preserve ancient and rare Egypt's Deir al-Surian monastery's manuscripts.

One of the ancient Christian manuscripts (photo courtesy of Levantine Foundation)

According to the Levantine Foundation's statement issued about the event, it is held to highlight the successful fieldwork to date and to conserve ancient manuscripts up to 1500 years old with the support of the British council's cultural protection fund.

A 6th century Deir al-Surian or the Monastery of the Syrian, houses of one of the oldest and important collection of ancient Christian manuscripts in the world. Made of 1000 texts on parchment , paper and papyrus in Syriac, Arabic, Coptic , Christian Arabic , Ethiopic for several issues including Gospels, biblical texts, theological writings.

One of the ancient Christian manuscripts (photo courtesy of Levantine Foundation) 

The Coptic Orthodox Monastery Deir al-Suiran is located between Alexandria and Cairo.

The British Council has already provided a grant for a team of 7 conservators to spend May and November at the Monastery to conserve 17 unique manuscripts. 

Founded in 2002 , the Levantine Foundation is a charity registered in England and Egypt who has been working on preserving the Deir al Surian monastery 's rare collection in partnership with the monastery , international scholars and conservation experts.