SUDAN: Paintings created more than 1,000 years ago were unearthed at the site of Ga’ab El Lagia near the third cataract of the Nile River. The scenes were painted on the walls of a 50-foot-long mudbrick church between the 9th and 11th centuries. They depict Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the archangels Gabriel and Michael. The composition represents a flourishing period of Nubian art, when the area was an important Christian center ruled by the powerful Kingdom of Makuria.