Old Cairo & The Hanging Church

This experience will amaze you. Imagine, Moses was found in the reeds, at a site you will visit today, and Mary, Joseph, and Jesus took refuge at the site, of Saints Sergius and Bacchus Church, making this a very special experience indeed. But these events are, by themselves, footnotes in an incredibly rich history of events and people.  Welcome to Coptic Cairo, a part of Old Cairo.

The area includes a walled enclave on the site of the partly preserved Babylon Fortress with the ancient fortress’s walls, towers, and gate still visible.

The area has a high concentration of historic Christian churches, such as the Hanging Church, the Greek Orthodox Church of St. George, the Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus, the Church of Santa Barbara, and other Christian buildings.

Evidence suggests that the Holy Family visited the area during their escape into Egypt as they sought refuge from Herod.  It is understood that Christianity began to spread in Egypt when St. Mark arrived in Alexandria where he became the first Patriarch.

The Church of Saint Barbara and the Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus are also notable for being among Cairo’s oldest preserved churches, dating from the late 7th or early 8th century.  The area also contains the Coptic Museum, which showcases the history of Coptic art from Greco-Roman to Islamic times, and the Ben Ezra Synagogue, the oldest and best-known synagogue in Cairo, where the important collection of historic documents known as the Cairo Geniza were found in the 19th century.

The Coptic Church later separated from the church of the Romans and the Byzantines. During the reign of Arcadius (395-408), several churches were built in Old Cairo.