Egypt is a land with a rich history. The average tourist to Cairo is likely to see many of the best-known sights of the city: the pyramids, the Sphinx, and the Egyptian Museum. Some of the less-known gems of Cairo’s tourist sights, however, are the artifacts in the Coptic Museum, set among the churches and ancient sites of Old Cairo, or Masr Qadeema. Easily accessible by metro at the Mari Girgis stop, the Coptic Museum lies on the outskirts of Old Cairo. The museum is not large and its displays are quite sparse, but it contains fascinating artifacts and provides many insights into Coptic Christian history in Egypt.
History of the Coptic Museum
Originally, the museum was a project of a Coptic nobleman, Marcus Simaika Pasha (1864-1944). He and the Orthodox pope at the time, Kirollos V, were instrumental in both building the museum and collecting the artifacts, while King Farouk I of Egypt officially endorsed the project. The artifacts came to the museum from a variety of sources, including the nearby ancient Coptic churches of Old Cairo. Excavations of sites in Upper and Lower Egypt, including Aswan to the south and Saqqara to the north, unearthed a large variety of objects now on display. The museum officially opened in 1910, housed in a building donated by its founder. Privately owned until 1931, it then came under the ownership of the government. As the official website indicates, the museum is the best place in the world to view Coptic history.
The original building of 1910, set between the Mari Girgis Church and old Roman fortress walls, was extended in 1947 and has undergone significant restoration since then. Anyone who visited the museum as it was in the 1990s would barely recognize the disorganized, crowded building of past years in the well-labeled displays and roomy corridors of the present. The rooms follow the various aspects of Coptic culture and faith, explained on large signs in each room, written in English, French, and Arabic. The displays themselves are also well marked, with good signage and reasonable lighting.
Displays of Coptic Art and Stonework
Stonework and frescoes dominate the museum’s first floor. Gravestones and pillars with intricately carved symbols such as the Coptic cross, the pharaonic key of life (or ankh), ancient gods such as Horus with his hawk’s head, and Greco-Roman intertwining leaves all adorn the stonework in a beautiful medley of cultures and styles.
Frescoes form an essential part of the main floor’s exhibits. These paintings on plaster simply but elegantly portray Christian teaching and history, with scenes from the Bible or pictures of the saints. Coptic paintings are easily recognizable. Typically, they are almost line drawings; two-dimensional, they feature bright colors and large-eyed, oval-faced figures. The ceilings are also worth seeing, with ornate carvings and brightly painted artwork. Among the displays, smaller objects like embroidered clothing and ornate crosses show the great artistry of the Copts.
Manuscripts and More at the Coptic Museum
Book lovers will especially appreciate the second floor, where manuscripts hundreds of years old are on display. Among these, the Coptic Museum’s most prized possession is the oldest known Coptic Psalter, containing a collection of Psalms in Coptic and transliterated into Arabic. A section of the Nag Hammadi scrolls containing ancient religious writings, discovered in Upper Egypt in 1945, also has a prominent place.
With so much to see and learn, the Coptic Museum is well worth a visit.
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