COPTE MUSEUM

It hides behind the imposing circular tower, a vestige of the Roman enclosure, at the end of a pleasant garden. The splendid building that houses it features architectural elements taken from various Coptic edifices destined for destruction. The museum boasts the world's most comprehensive collection of Coptic artefacts. In addition to its pleasant setting, a visit to the museum is a very interesting way of understanding Coptic art. From room to room, you'll discover sumptuous woodwork inlaid with mother-of-pearl or ivory, a wealth of icons, manuscripts and papyrus, as well as ancient textiles.

The first presentation of Coptic pieces was made in the Coptic hall of Boulaq's first museum. In 1907, the Coptic Patriarch of the time ordered an inventory of Coptic archaeological finds preserved in churches and monasteries. In 1910, with the help of Marcus Simaika Pacha, the first rooms of what is still today the Museum of Coptic Art were inaugurated.

First floor

Room 2. Large tapestry from the ^4th or^5th century, from Antinoe in Middle Egypt, with festive scenes, which the Copts were also accustomed to depicting in linen fabrics embroidered with wool. Limestone frieze from the monastery of Saint Jeremiah in Saqqarah, with Roman-inspired floral and animal motifs. Painted frieze depicting four nimbed saints.

Room 3. The sculptural elements in this room perfectly illustrate the Hellenistic influences of the ^4th century on Coptic art. Capital in blackened limestone, depicting a man resembling the god Dionysus, drinking wine. Remarkable bust of Aphrodite with a wide necklace and flowing hair. Hercules and the Nemean lion. Shell-shaped niche surrounded by a Hellenistic frieze. Apollo and his lyre. Orpheus taming a lion. The god Pan, recognizable by his animal legs. Orpheus and Eurydice. And most amusingly, a cross supported by two naked Eros.

Room 4. The elements presented in this room highlight the influence of ancient Egyptian beliefs on the new Christian art. Funerary stele of Petros, depicting a boat. Funerary stele decorated with a cross and an eagle, both a Christian motif of resurrection and an Egyptian symbol. Baptismal font carved from an antique capital, enhanced by woven basket and cross decorations.

Rooms 5 to 6 and inner courtyard. Christian art in desert monasteries. Painted niche depicting Christ in majesty, surrounded by smiling angels. Another niche featuring a painting of Christ in Majesty. Pottery jars, decorated with fish, a symbol whose acrostic in its Greek translation, ΙΧΘΥΣ, can mean "Jesus Christ, God the Son, Savior". The inner courtyard contains various capitals from the monastery of St. Jeremiah in Saqqara.

Rooms 7 to 9. Pieces from the Saint-Paul monastery in Bawit. Vault depicting Saint Apollo, or Paul, founder of the monastery, surrounded by his monks Phib and Anoup. In room 8, a splendidly restored painted niche features the Virgin Mary holding her child in her arms and, on the vaulted ceiling, Christ in majesty surrounded by the signs of the four evangelists and adoring angels. Another fresco depicts the bust of Christ, with particularly Egyptian features. In room 9, an unexpected fresco of mice holding flowers in their paws and asking for peace from a cat ready to attack, called the "cat of the town of Buto" (in the Delta).

Second floor

Room 10. Superb bronze crest, ^3rd or ^4th century, representing an eagle, of Roman inspiration, found in the ruins of Babylon. Series of limestone bas-reliefs depicting the harvest. Limestone frieze bearing three animals under acanthus leaves: two lions chasing a domestic antelope.

Room 11. Pieces evoking episodes from the Bible. Red fresco from Nubia, from the Abdallah Nirqi church, depicting the Nativity. Superb ivory comb depicting angels surrounding a warrior on one side, and the resurrection of Lazarus surrounded by mummy bandages on the other. Painted frieze from the monastery of Tebtunis, Fayoum, depicting Adam and Eve, naked then hiding their genitals after the episode of original sin.

Rooms 12 to 14. Splendid collection of Coptic fabrics. Tunics are generally in linen, while decorative elements are in wool. Human representations were forbidden by the Coptic hierarchy as early as the ^4th century, but the custom lasted until the Arab invasion. Some fabrics were made for the sole purpose of dressing the deceased. The decorations are highly figurative and symbolic.

Room 15. Nag Hammadi Library. A collection of thirteen codices housed in a jar found in 1945 by a camel driver. Most of the works date from the second half of the ^4th century. The codexes replaced the ancient scrolls, and their leaves are of papyrus and parchment, preserved flat in leather cases.

Rooms 16 and 17. Book collection. The Gospels, illuminated manuscript from Damascus, 1340, in Arabic. Holy Week Lectionary, illuminated manuscript produced in Egypt in 1342. Room 17, a ^4th-century parchment psalter from el-Mudil.

Gallery. Decorative elements from the cells of desert monks. Painted using the tempera technique, a texture based on egg yolk and designed to impregnate plaster and plastered wood. Stylized red cross from Qusur el-Rubayat, ^7th century. Pottery dish decorated with fish, found in a cell in Qusur el-Hegella, ^6th century.

Room 18. Nilotic scenes. Wooden friezes depicting Nile poles and crocodiles. Limestone vault depicting ducks, stylized papyrus and men in boats. Limestone bust of the Nile, ^3rd or ^4th century, in the form of a bearded man surrounded by lotus flowers.

Room 19. Wooden objects. Panel depicting a lion attacking an antelope, from Aphroditopolis. Wooden toys from the 6th century, depicting horses. Stylized combs from the Byzantine period.

Rooms 20 to 22. Collection of icons. There are no statues in Coptic churches, but icons painted on wood, using the same tempera technique. Holy Week triptych, ^13th century, depicting Christ's crucifixion in the center, three scenes of the entry into Jerusalem, the washing of the feet and the Last Supper on the left, the descent from the cross, the burial and the resurrection on the right. An icon of Saint Anthony and Saint Paul of Thebes, from the Mercure monastery: a raven brings bread to Saint Anthony, who is dying of hunger, and two lions appear at the death of Saint Paul of Thebes. Icon of the Flight to Egypt, by the Holy Family, whose presence has generated a series of venerations in many localities throughout the country.

Room 23. Metal objects. Silver Bible dish, ^13th century, depicting the nimbed Virgin Mary carrying her son in her arms; the writing is in Arabic. Bronze hanging oil lamps from the Byzantine period, in the shape of a dove and a fowl. Series of bronze and iron keys from the White Monastery of Sohag.

Rooms 24 and 25. Pottery, ceramics. Noteworthy is a gourd of Saint Menas, or Mina, from the eponymous monastery on the west side of Alexandria. Thousands of these terracotta flasks were brought back from this holy place by pilgrims.

Room 26. Ottoman palanquin in wood, ivory, bone and mother-of-pearl. The dimensions of this palanquin are impressive: 1.95 m long x 1.12 m high x 1.05 m wide. It belonged to a wealthy Christian lady, who commissioned this object decorated with Christian motifs.

First floor

Three rooms containing decorative objects from the churches of Old Cairo.^{Fifth-century} pine altar from the Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus. Carved elements of a sycamore door (the Egyptian fig tree) from the Church of Saint Barbara. A ^15th-century bible case in wood, silver, gold veneer and colored glass from the Church of the Virgin Mary.