The Coptic Museum

Take a breath of fresh air in a peaceful courtyard surrounded by green gardens when you need to relax, See the distinctive blend of cultures at the Coptic Museum in Cairo where are displayed hundreds of Christian Egyptian documents, statues and artefacts in which you'll distinct Ancient Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman influence.

The Coptic Museum is located within the Roman fortress town called Babylon in Old Cairo, step into the past and walk by the fusion of cultures inside and outside the museum in a place as old as history.

The term “Copt” refers to the Egyptian Christians who were evangelized by St. Mark the Apostle in the first century A.D. The word probably originates from the old Egyptian word Hwt-Ka-Ptah which means the “House of the God Ptah”. While the Greeks used the word Aigyptos for Egypt, the Copts used the Coptic term Kyptos.

Interest in Coptic art was revived at the end of the 19th century when Mr. Gaston Maspero, a French Egyptologist, brought together many pieces in dedicated rooms of the Egyptian museum.

In 1908, Marcus Simaika Pasha, having obtained the approval of Patriarch Kyrillos V, succeeded in getting the Coptic Museum built on a plot intended for the construction of a church. The Museum was first inaugurated in 1910, then again in 1984 following restoration. It became a State museum in 1931 and its collections bequeathed by family legacies and donations have continued to grow.

In 1939, the Service of Antiquities decided to transfer the totality of the Christian Antiquities exhibited in the Egyptian Museum to the Coptic Museum. Since then, all findings originating in Christian sites have automatically gone to the Coptic Museum.

The Museum’s founder wished to bring together all the material necessary to study Christian history in Egypt. Thanks to his enthusiasm for Coptic antiquity, he succeeded in his project to create this Museum which links Pharaonic, Greco-Roman and Islamic antiquity. The Museum is located within the walls of the fortress of Babylon, part of the old city walls built by Emperor Trajan in 98 A.D., which also houses the old churches of Cairo: St. Sergius and St. Barbara of the 4th century and the Hanging Church “El Muallaqa” of the 6th century.

The sculptures of the 4th and 5th centuries show subjects borrowed from Greco-Roman mythology endowed with Christian symbolism, as in Aphrodite emerging from the waters on a sea-shell, implicitly suggesting re-birth through the baptism of water and the Holy Spirit. A sculpture from Ahnas shows the marriage of Leda, queen of Sparta, with god Zeus in the disguise of a swan, behind them an angel blessing the marriage.

From the 6th century onwards, reliefs inspired by scripture multiply: the three Hebrews in the furnace, the Virgin nursing the Infant Jesus, angels holding aloft a medallion displaying a bust of Christ, St. George and other saints on horseback.

A majestic ambon, known as “Jeremiah’s Pulpit”, dates from the same period, this time from the Monastery of St. Jeremiah in Saqqara.

The Bawit fresco of the Monastery of Apa Apollo shows Christ in majesty and the Holy Virgin with the Apostles, surrounded by archangels.

The examples of woodwork confirm the particular mastery of the Copts in working this warm and vibrant medium: doors and iconostatic screens, panels showing episodes from the life of Christ, liturgical objects, altars, crosses and lecterns.

There is a wealth of cloths which highlight a wide diversity of techniques and materials. They cover Biblical subjects as well as scenes from daily life.

Opening hours: 09:00- 16:00

Ticket Price(s):

Regular: 50 EGP / Student: 25 EGP