Hanging Church

A trip to Coptic Cairo wouldn’t be complete without seeing the Church of the Virgin Mary, also called “the Hanging Church,” which is the city’s most famous site. The name comes from the fact that it was built on top of the walls of the Roman fortification of Babylon, which dates back to the 4th century BC and whose remains can still be seen around Coptic Cairo.

Even though waste and dust have caused the ground level to rise more than 30 feet over the years, this church once stood tall on the high walls of the castle, overlooking its surroundings. The effect is much less strong now. The church was built in the 9th century, but the site may have been used by the church as early as the 3rd century AD. This would make it one of the oldest Christian religious sites in Egypt, if not the oldest.

Even though a portico added to the front of the church in the 19th century hides some of its original beauty, it is often thought to be the most beautiful of the historic churches in the area. From inside the portico, you can still see the front of the church, which dates back to the 13th century. The beautiful interior has bone and ivory inlays that look like they were inspired by the geometric and organic shapes that are common in Islamic architecture.

Coptic Cairo :

Coptic Cairo, along with Old Cairo, is a unique area with a lot of Christian churches and other sites from the time when Egypt was mostly Christian, in the centuries after the pharaonic religion died out, and before Islam came. In Egypt, you have to go to Coptic Cairo. Coptic Cairo is mostly based around the ruins of the fort of Babylon and the walls that used to surround it.

Here is where the Coptic Museum is, which has the largest collection of Coptic Christian art and antiques in the world. The museum, which opened in 1910, tells the story of the Copts from the time when Christianity came to Egypt to the time of the Ottoman Empire. It does this by showing a wide range of art from Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman cultures.

On the grounds, there are also six churches from the early days of Christianity. The Hanging Church, also called the Church of the Virgin Mary, was built in the 9th century to “hang” far above the walls that protected the city of Babylon. In recent years, this “hanging” has had much less of an effect because the ground has risen around the walls. The Church of St. Sergius is one of several older churches you can visit further into Coptic Cairo.

Tradition says that it was built on the site of a crypt where Jesus, Mary, and Joseph hid when they were in Egypt during the 5th century. The Ben Ezra Synagogue is much further back in the area. This is the oldest synagogue in Cairo. It was built in the 9th century on the site of either the Temple of Jeremiah or the place where the pharaoh’s daughter found Moses hiding in the reeds. The synagogue is named for Jeremiah, who was a prophet.