Coptic Museum

The museum was founded in 1908 by Marcus Simaika to gather Coptic material that was otherwise being split between Pharaonic and Islamic collections, and it remains the fullest account anywhere of Egyptian Christian art. The strength of the collection is that it shows a transition rather than a break: ankh signs reworked as crosses, classical acanthus carving softening into Coptic pattern, Greek and Egyptian motifs running together in the same stone. There are carved limestone niches from the monasteries of Bawit and Saqqara, wall paintings lifted and remounted, wooden doors and screens, textiles that survive because of the dry ground, and manuscripts including early Psalters. The building itself is worth the ticket, two wings around a courtyard with mashrabiya screens and painted wooden ceilings salvaged from Cairo houses.

History

Marcus Simaika founded the museum in 1908 to house Coptic antiquities, on 8,000 square metres of land given by the Coptic Orthodox Church under Pope Cyril V, who also gave silver antiquities; paid for by public subscription, it was inaugurated on 14 March 1910, and the Coptic community donated many vestments, frescoes and icons. Its facade was modelled on that of the 12th-century Al-Aqmar Mosque. The museum became a state museum in 1931, the Christian antiquities of the Egyptian Museum were moved here in 1939 and housed in the New Wing completed in 1944, the damaged Old Wing was closed in 1966, and after renovation in 1983-1984 and strengthening of the foundations in 1986-1988 the building came through the 1992 earthquake; it was renovated again in 2005-06. Its collection of 16,000 objects, the largest of Coptic Christian art in the world, is arranged chronologically in twelve sections, among the old churches of Coptic Cairo (Wikipedia, Coptic Museum).

Highlights

• Carved stonework from Bawit and Saqqara - monastery niches and capitals.
• Coptic textiles - preserved by dry ground, with figures and pattern intact.
• Painted wooden ceilings - salvaged from old Cairo houses into the museum itself.
• Early manuscripts - including Psalters from the Christian centuries.

When to go

October to April. Mornings are best, and the museum is markedly quieter than the Egyptian Museum at any hour. Two hours is enough unless you read the manuscripts closely. It combines naturally with the churches immediately outside.

What to expect

The labelling assumes some familiarity with the period and can be sparse. Lighting is uneven in the textile rooms. It is a specialist collection and will feel narrow to anyone who has come to Egypt for Pharaonic material. Bags go through a scanner at the gate of the quarter.

Nearby

The Hanging Church is a few steps away; Fustat and the civilization museum lie to the north.

Key facts