Photo : Ovedc — CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Cairo · Old Cairo, Fustat
The Hanging Church
A nave built over the towers of a Roman gate: hence the name, and the drop beneath the floor.
The church of St Mary owes its nickname to where it sits: built over the southern gate of the Roman fortress of Babylon, its walls resting on the two bastions and the nave spanning the passage, which a glass panel in the floor lets you see. It is one of the oldest sanctuaries in Egypt, and its building phases can be read, from the ninth century to the twin-towered façade added in the nineteenth. It served as the seat of the Coptic patriarch from the eleventh century, when the patriarchate moved from Alexandria to Cairo. Inside, the marble pulpit stands on thirteen slim columns: Christ and his twelve apostles, one of the columns darker for Judas. The wooden ceiling is framed like an upturned ship's hull.
The extra bit
The metro drops you at the gate: Mar Girgis station, line 1, opens almost opposite the steps, ten minutes from downtown and no car needed. Come as soon as it opens, as the coaches turn up mid-morning; the Coptic Museum and Ben Ezra synagogue are behind the same wall.
Know before you go
This is a working church: on Sunday mornings and during Coptic feasts the nave belongs to the liturgy, and sightseeing does not. Shoulders and knees covered, voices down. Entry is free, and the guides who offer their services at the foot of the steps have no official standing.
