Christian Cairo History Tour

What's Included

Meeting and pickup

Itinerary

• 1
  Cave Church

  The local Coptic church in Mokattam Village was established in 1975. After the establishment of the church, the Zabbaleen felt more secure in their location and only then began to use more permanent building materials, such as stone and bricks, for their homes. Given their previous experience of eviction from Giza in 1970, the Zabbaleen had lived in temporary tin huts up till that point. In 1976, a large fire broke out in Manshiyat Nasir, which led to the beginning of the construction of the first church below the Mokattam mountain on a site of 1,000 square meters. More churches have been built into the caves found in Mokattam. Currently, there are seven cave churches hidden among the caves of Mokattam Mountain. The Monastery of St. Simon the Tanner is the largest and it has an amphitheater with a seating capacity of 20,000. This church is the largest church in the Middle East. It is named after the Coptic saint, Simon the Tanner, who lived at the end of the 10th century...

  45 minutes • Admission ticket free
• 2
  Coptic Orthodox Church of St. George (Mari Girgis)

  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 hegumen has had the rank of bishop with title Bishop Babylonos ("Bishop of Babylon").

  30 minutes • Admission ticket free
• 3
  Church of St. Sergius and Bacchus

  Saints Sergius 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.

  45 minutes • Admission ticket free
• 4
  Synagogue Ben Ezra

  It is also known as 'the Synagogue of the Palestinians' or 'of the Jerusalemites'. Given the small population of Egyptian Jews, the synagogue is no longer active and is largely a tourism site and Jewish museum. The geniza or store room of the synagogue was found in the 19th century to contain a treasure of forgotten, stored-away Hebrew, Aramaic and Judeo-Arabic secular and sacred manuscripts. The collection of approximately 40,000 items, known as the Cairo Geniza, was brought to the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England at the instigation of Solomon Schechter. It is now divided between several academic libraries, with the majority being kept at the Cambridge University Library.

  10 minutes • Admission ticket free
• 5
  The Hanging Church

  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. It belongs to the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria.

  45 minutes • Admission ticket free

Additional info

• Wheelchair accessible
• Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
• Specialized infant seats are available
• Suitable for all physical fitness levels

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