The area of the archaeological monastery is estimated at about two acres, its length from east to west (100-107 meters) and its width from north to south (83-90 meters). and until the eighteenth century it was less than that, before the Ibrahim Al-Gohari added to it an area of 24 meters along the length of the monastery, surrounded by an external wall that has the entrances to the monastery.
The height of the monastery wall ranges from 10 to 13 meters, and the thickness of the wall is about one and a half meters or more, and it is all covered with gypsum paint of the mountain.
At the top of the wall there are openings through which the monks overlook those coming to the monastery. Its construction dates back to the ninth century AD during the reign of Pope Shenouda I (859-880 AD).
As for the doors of the ancient monastery, the Northern door is the main entrance to the monastery, and there is also the eastern door, which was not used for a long time until 1975 AD.
In 1983, the monastery built new cells in the Sothern side outside the old wall, and thus the monastery opened a third door in the South for the monks to use to enter the monastery directly.
