A Day in Old Cairo

Last weekend, we walked around a little area in the middle of Cairo called Old Cairo or Coptic Cairo. Old Cairo consists of the remains of a Roman garrison called Babylon dating from about 110 AD; inside the Roman ruins are about ten churches built by the Coptic community here.

This is one of the towers at the gate. If you looked over the handrail, you'd see that eye-level is really 30 feet above the base of the tower.....we're standing on centuries of mud and debris!! At the base of the tower, excavations have revealed traces of a drawbridge because the tower was built on the bank of the Nile. About 700 years ago, the Nile changed course and you have to walk about a half-mile to see it today. The photo on the right shows some of the Roman wall surrounding the fortress.
















Historians don't know when the churches inside this Roman fortress were built. My guidebook said that we don't have any information on the churches in Babylon before the Arab conquest in 641 AD. There is, however, a record of Cyrus, as the bishop of Babylon, attending the Council of Ephesus, held in 449 AD. So we know there was a Christian community here at that point.

I'm not even going to bother posting our photos because they're so awful but the churches were interesting and beautiful. One of the churches is called the Hanging Church because it was built over the South gate of the Roman fortress. Another church, dedicated to St. Sergius, is famous because it was built over the crypt where Jesus, Mary, and Joseph purportedly took refuge when they came to Egypt. (Note: this information isn't found in the Bible but from the writings of Pope Theophilus who saw the route of the Holy Family in a vision). Here's a mosaic at the entrance of the hanging church:



Again, no pictures, but there is also a beautiful synagogue in the complex dating back to the 9th century. In the 19th century, they discovered the synagogue's treasury which included thousands of letters, promissary notes, deeds, and contracts dating back to the 11th century. Apparently, the records were so complete, the collection was compared to the Domesday book. It, of course, like so much of Egypt's treasures was spirited away to institutions abroad.

Egypt does however have a wonderful collection of historical pieces from the Coptic community held in the Coptic Museum. What a wonderful museum!! Great English descriptions, wonderful display cases and layout, even handicapped accessible!! No air conditioning but we survived. :)
It was fascinating to see how Christians used the Greek, Roman, and Egyptian symbols around them for their own purposes. Pharoanic ankhs have been morphed into crosses, the Roman eagle was used as a symbol for Christ, one frieze shows two nude Roman cherubs holding up a laurel wreath which encloses a cross. I was surprised that a good number of items came from the Fayoum area down where we live (about 2 hrs south of Cairo). Actually, there was a Bishop of Heracleopolis, an ancient city down in the Fayoum delta, who was sent to the Council of Nicea in 325 AD!

Curiously, throughout the second floor of the museum, there are many alcoves which don't have windows but instead feature the mashrabiya wooden lattice work. You may remember seeing an example of this in the post about Islamic Cairo about a month back....the wooden lattice work was designed to allow women to look outside without being seen. This is Islamic design and I wasn't sure why they would make a point to build these into the Coptic museum, BUT they were beautiful!! And I finally had a chance to stand behind them and look out. I was surprised by how little you could see!