Coptic Cairo

Long before Cairo existed, the Romans built a fortress here called Babylon, guarding the Nile crossing. Parts of its walls and round towers survive. Egypt became largely Christian from the 4th century, and churches were built inside and against the fortress walls.

Coptic tradition holds that the Holy Family sheltered here during their flight into Egypt. The crypt of the Church of Abu Serga (St Sergius) is venerated as one of their resting places. The Hanging Church takes its name from being built over the gatehouse of the Roman fortress, so its nave seems to hang above the passage.

The Ben Ezra Synagogue held the Cairo Geniza — a storeroom where hundreds of thousands of manuscript fragments were kept over roughly a thousand years. Rediscovered in the 19th century, they are one of the richest sources for the daily life of medieval Jewish, and wider Mediterranean, communities.

Founded in 1910 by Marcus Simaika, the Coptic Museum holds the world's largest collection of Egyptian Christian art: carved stone and wood from early churches, icons, manuscripts including pages of the Nag Hammadi texts, and textiles woven from the 4th century onwards. The building itself, with its mashrabiya screens and painted ceilings, is part of the display.

A short walk north stands the site of the first mosque built in Egypt, founded in 641–642 by the general Amr ibn al-As after the Arab conquest. Rebuilt and enlarged many times, it is still in use, and the quarter around it — Fustat — was Egypt's capital before Cairo was founded.