Cairo is characterized by many Christian and Jewish religious monuments, from the most important of it :
–The Gayer Anderson Museum
Geyer Anderson Pasha was an English officer who studied medicine in London. He
was assigned as a doctor for the English military in 1904 and was deployed in Egypt
in 1907.
In 1935, Geyer Anderson submitted a request to the Assembly of Preserving Arab
Antiquities to live in the two houses and to furnish them in Islamic-Arabic style. He
proposed to gather a collection of pharaonic, Islamic, and Asiatic antiquities. These
antiquities would belong to the Egyptian people following his death or when he left
Egypt permanently.
The assembly agreed. When Anderson left the house in 1942,
his request was granted, and the two houses came into the possession of the
Assembly of Preserving Arab Antiquities, which converted the building into the
Geyer Anderson Museum.The house is a combination of two houses dating to the Ottoman period (16-17th century).
The first house was built by the scholar ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Hadad in 947 AH/ 1545 AD.
Lady Amina bint Salem later owned it. The second house belonged to Hajj
Muhammad ibn Salem ibn Jilmam al-Jazar in 1041 AH/ 1631 AD. Different families
lived in it until it came under the ownership of a lady from Crete, and so the house
became known as Bayt al-Kritlyya.
–The Hanging Church
This church was known as the” Hanging Church“ because it was built over the ruins
of Old Cairo‘s Roman fort, and situated near the Coptic Museum.
The church is made up of a court divided into four wings separated by three rows
of marble columns. A wooden semi-circular vaults covers the main court.
Themchurch also contains an inscribed granite baptismal tank and a marble pulpit carried upon ten columns decorated with mosaic. The pulpit dates to the eleventh century AD.The east side houses five alters surmounted by wooden domes. The church’s ceiling was made to look like Noah’s Ark. The Hanging Church is famous for the icons that
decorate its walls. The oldest dates to the fifteenth century AD, while most of the
rest date to the end of the eighteenth century AD.
Church of Saint Sergius and Bacchus
The Church of Saint Sergius and Bacchus, also known as Abu Serga, is built upon an
ancient Roman fort in Old Cairo. The history of the church is still being debated.
Some scholars believe that it dates to the late fourth to early fifth centuries AD,
while others believe that it should approximately be dated to 17th century AD.
This church has acquired a special religious status among Coptic churches because it
is associated with the Holy Family’s journey through Egypt.
It is named after renowned early fourth century AD saints, Sergius and Bacchus, both of whom were martyred at al-Resafa in Syria for their Christian beliefs.
Like various other early Christian churches, the Church of Abu Serga and its
underground cave are designed in the basilica layout, and thus together consist of
three parts: the narthex, nave, and sanctuary (the cave being below the sanctuary).
The church is characterized by its unique architectural and artistic elements that
reflect the spirit of Coptic church architecture in Egypt. These include the pulpit,
baptismal font, inlaid ivory and wood templon, and unique religious decoration of
the saints and apostles decorating the various domes, walls and columns.
– Jewish Temple (Ben Ezra Temple)
Located deep in the winding alleys of Coptic Cairo, Ben Ezra Synagogue is the
oldest Jewish temple in Cairo, dating from the 9th century AD.
Like almost all of Egypt’s synagogues, it is simply a tourist attraction today following the
departure of nearly all of Egypt’s significant Jewish community during the
1950s after the founding of Israel and the Free Officers’ Revolution,
but this site still holds great importance in the contemporary history of Judaism.
The 19th-century discovery a huge cache of documents, the synagogue’s
treasury, which recorded the history and transactions of Cairo’s Jewish
community since the 11th century, provided the most complete account of
medieval Jewry anywhere in the world. These documents, however, are now
held at Cambridge University in England.
Two separate myth state that the synagogue is built on the site where the
pharaoh’s daughter found Moses hidden in the reeds of the Nile or on the site
of the Temple of Jeremiah.
– The Coptic Museum
The Coptic Museum houses the largest collection of Coptic artifacts in the world and
was inaugurated in 1910. The museum was established through the efforts of
Marcus Simaika Pasha, a prominent Coptic figure who was vested in the
preservation of Coptic heritage. Simaika Pasha bought and collected Coptic
antiquities and various architectural elements from older churches that were
undergoing renovation, and used them to built the museum and establish its
collection. The collection represents Coptic history from its earliest beginnings in Egypt
through to its rise as a leading center of Christianity in the world.
Coptic Christianity traces its origins to a visit by Saint Mark in the city of Alexandria in the 1st Century A.D. The artifacts on display in the museum show the merge of Coptic art with the
prevailing cultures including Pharaonic, Greek, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman, and
its evolution in developing its own character and identity.
Magnificently decorated manuscripts, icons, delicately carved woodwork and
elaborate frescos with religious scenes recovered from ancient monasteries and
churches are among its extensive collection.
– Samaan The Tanner Monastery
The Monastery of St. Simeon Al-Kharraz or the Mokattam Plateau, is a
distinguished archaeological landmark in Cairo Governorate, specifically
in the Mokattam area. It is characterized by a beautiful architectural
character, as the front facade of the two-domed monastery contains a large panel with religious drawings of Christ, and there is a unique
church built In the inner cavity of the mountain, near the grotto where
Saint Simeon al-Kharraz is buried, the area is a destination for tourists
and locals who come to pray, explore the place and take memorial
photos.
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