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The Coptic Quarter (Qasr al-Sham), is one of the oldest neighborhood in the city. The Copts were the autochthonous Egyptians, that is, those who lived in old Cairo before the arrival of the Arabs. Later the term “Coptic” came to have a religious meaning that designated the Christian Egyptians, who still live mostly in this part of the city.

The Coptic neighborhood of Cairo is also a pilgrimage site because, according to the New Testament, the family of Jesus took refuge there while they fled from Bethlehem to Egypt. Just as in Jerusalem, where the tomb of Jesus was found, the basilica of the Holy Sepulcher was built, here in the cave where they took refuge and lived during their stay in Egypt, the church of San Sergio and San Baco was built in the 5th century.

The architecture of the Coptic neighborhood is very attractive, as it is influenced by many different cultures, Greek, Egyptian, Arab and Byzantine. And many times we find in the same building details of different styles and periods.

The Coptic neighborhood is located in the same place since its founding called Babylon Fortress, within which, in addition to the museum, there are numerous churches of different religions.

Also called with the term Castle of Egypt, by Ptolemy one hundred years before Christ. At the time of the Roman Empire, the emperors reinforced the walls, which are 3 meters thick and the towers are 10 meters high and 31 in diameter. From the Arab conquest, the name of the Babylonian fortress was extended to the entire area surrounding the castle of Qasr ash-Sham’a.

After visiting some of the beautiful churches such as that of San Jorge and its convent, the suspended or hanging church that is the most famous, since its dome is shaped like Noah’s Ark, as described in the Old Testament, with more than 100 painted icons. And the Church of St. Barbara, Thomas and Lein meet in front of the Coptic Museum in Cairo, to continue research on an old papyrus.