This meeting is intended to be a first step towards a synthetic study of Qasr Ibrim's role in the history of North-Eastern Africa, focusing on the role of Ibrim as an intermediary between North and South and the profound cultural and religious transformations that marked the region throughout its long history.

Topics include: Influences from abroad: The evidence of the textiles (Nettie K. Adams, Lexington, Kentucky), Contacts between Qasr Ibrim and the surrounding deserts (Dr. Hans Barnard, Los Angeles), Nobadia's role in the internal and external politics of the kingdom of Makuria (Prof. Dr. W³odzimierz Godlewski, Warsaw) and Revisiting the unpublished Old Nubian archives from Qasr Ibrim (Dr. Giovanni Ruffini, Fairfield, Connecticut). On the Friday evening a public lecture on 5000 years of cultural continuity and change in Nubia will be given by Prof. Dr. W.Y. Adams in the shade of the rescued Nubian temple of Taffeh, in the main hall of the National Museum of Antiquities.

This event is organized for the Department of Egyptology of Leiden University and the Netherlands Institute for the Near East, Leiden by Joost Hagen (Leiden University) and Jacques van der Vliet (Leiden University / Radboud University Nijmegen), both working on the Coptic texts from Qasr Ibrim; they are assisted by Carolien van Zoest (NINO). The symposium is supported by the National Museum of Antiquities (RMO) and various other sponsors. The proceedings will be published by the Netherlands Institute for the Near East (NINO).

The lectures will begin on Friday morning and end on Saturday afternoon. There is no entrance fee but those who are interested in attending should contact Mrs. Carolien van Zoest: c.van.zoest@hum.leidenuniv.nl.