Top experiences in Cairo 4* Coptic Museum Details

Coptic Museum

This museum, founded in 1908, houses Coptic art from the earliest days of Christianity in Egypt right through to early Islam. It is a beautiful place, as much for the elaborate woodcarving in all the galleries as for the treasures they contain. These include a sculpture that shows obvious continuity from the Ptolemaic period, rich textiles and whole walls of monastery frescoes. Allow at least a couple of hours to explore the 1200 or so pieces on display.

The 2nd- to 5th-century funerary stelae from Kom Abou Billou clearly shows the transition between Pharaonic and Coptic art, with the first crosses shaped like the ankh, the key of life. The 4th- and 5th-century sculpture equally marks this transition, where Christian symbolism was influenced by Graeco-Roman mythology as well as older Pharaonic subjects. Rebirth through a baptism of water is suggested by Aphrodite emerging from the waters on a seashell. Look out for the wonderful 7th- to 8th-century work of three mice asking a cat for peace. In Egypt, the depiction of animals behaving like humans dates back to 1500 BC.

Upstairs are two large rooms with exquisite 4th- to 7th-century Coptic textiles, woven and embroidered, and a room with the Nag Hammadi manuscripts, the primary source for Gnosticism, and the oldest book of psalms in the world, the Psalms of David, with two original wooden covers.