Half-Day Tour to Coptic Cairo & The Christian Churches

Old Egypt For Fine Art

2 hours

Coptic Cairo is a part of Old Cairo which encompasses the Babylon Fortress, the Coptic Museum, the Hanging Church, the Greek Church of St. George and many other Coptic churches and historical sites. It is believed in Christian tradition that the Holy Family visited this area and stayed at the site of Saints Sergius and Bacchus Church (Abu Serga). Coptic Cairo was a stronghold for Christianity in Egypt until the Islamic era, though most of the current buildings of the churches in Coptic Cairo were built after the Muslim conquest of Egypt in the 7th century

Hanging Church (El Muallaqa, Sitt Mariam, St Mary)

1 hour

Coptic Christian church with a wooden roof in the shape of Noah's ark, a 5th-century pulpit & icons.
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 travelers to Cairo dubbed it "the Staircase Church". The land surface has risen by some six meters since the Roman period. So the Roman tower is mostly buried below ground, reducing the visual impact of the church's elevated position. The entrance from the street is through iron gates under a pointed stone arch. The nineteenth-century facade with twin bell towers is then seen beyond a narrow courtyard decorated with modern art biblical designs. Up the steps and through the entrance is a further small courtyard leading to the eleventh-century outer porch.

Coptic Orthodox Church of St. George (Mari Girgis)

1 hour

The Church of St. George is a Greek Orthodox church within the Babylon Fortress in Coptic Cairo. It is part of the Holy Patriarchal Monastery of St George under the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria and all Africa. The church dates back to the 10th century (or earlier). The current structure was rebuilt following a 1904 fire, construction was finished in 1909. Since 2009, the monastery's hegemony has had the rank of bishop with title Bishop Babylon’s ("Bishop of Babylon").

Church of St. Sergius and Bacchus

1 hour

4th-century church believed to be built on the spot where Joseph, Mary & baby Jesus once rested.
Saints Sergio’s and Bacchus Church 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.
The church is of significant historical importance, and in fact, it is where many patriarchs of the Coptic Church were elected. The first to be elected here was Patriarch Isaac (681-692) it is the Episcopal church of Cairo, and it was the Episcopal See of Masr (the district of Old Cairo) that replaced the former See of Babylon. Many bishops of the See were consecrated in the Church until the reign of Patriarch Christodoulou (1047–1077).