Coptic Cairo or old Cairo

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Today we walked around Old Cairo. We visited 2 churches, a synagogue and a mosque.

Saint Virgin Mary's Coptic Orthodox Church also known as The Hanging Church is one of the oldest churches in Egypt and the history of a church on this site dates to the third century. The Hanging Church is named for its location above a gatehouse of Babylon Fortress, the Roman fortress in Coptic Cairo (Old Cairo); its nave is suspended over a passage. The church is approached by twenty-nine steps; early travellers to Cairo dubbed it "the Staircase Church". The land surface has risen by some six metres since the Roman period so the Roman tower is mostly buried below ground, reducing the visual impact of the church's elevated position.

Saints Sergius Church is one of the oldest Coptic churches in Egypt dating back to the 4th century. It was built in the center of the Ancient Roman fort of Babylon. It is traditionally believed to have been built on the spot where the Holy Family, Joseph, Mary and the infant Jesus Christ, rested at the end of their journey into Egypt. They may have lived here while Joseph worked at the fortress. We went one level down from street level, through a very narrow old street. Once in the church we went down into the crypt where the holy family lived for 3 months.

Ben Ezra Synagogue, according to ancient folklore, is the place where baby Moses was discovered. Egypt's Jewish community is at the end of a dramatic decline, from about 80,000 people in the 1920s to less than a dozen of Egyptian ancestry now residing in Cairo. Accordingly, the Ben Ezra Synagogue functions now as a tourist attraction and museum, rather than as a functioning congregation.

The Great Mosque of Muhammad Ali Pasha or Alabaster Mosque because it is covered in alabaster) is situated in the Citadel of Cairo and was commissioned by Muhammad Ali Pasha between 1830 and 1848. Situated on the summit of the citadel, this Ottoman mosque, the largest to be built in the first half of the 19th century, is, with its animated silhouette and twin minarets, the most visible mosque in Cairo. The mosque was built in memory of Tusun Pasha, Muhammed Ali’s oldest son, who died in 1816.

This is our last night in Cairo. Tomorrow we leave for Alexandria.

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Photos

Inside crypt
look at right through the archway, this is where Jesus would have slept