111 years since the inauguration of the Coptic Museum in Egypt, learn its story (Video)

Today, the Coptic Museum celebrates its opening anniversary, and is one of the oldest and most important Egyptian museums. It contains the largest and most important collection of Coptic artifacts in the world, about 16 thousand pieces.


The construction of the museum began in 1908 by Mark Smika Pasha (1944-1864), the first director of the Egyptian Museum - with the support of the Coptic Church represented by Pope Kyrollos V, Patriarch No. 211, and the museum was officially opened on March 14, 1910.

The museum is located in ancient Egypt (the complex of religions), within the walls of the Roman fortress of Babylon, surrounded by a group of the oldest and most important churches in Egypt, the most famous of which are the Church of the Virgin, the Hanging Church, the Church of Abu Sarjah, and the oldest Jewish temple (Ben Ezra), which dates back to the century In the ninth century AD, and a few minutes walk from the museum, there is the Mosque of Amr Ibn Al-Aas.



And since you pass the main entrance gate of the museum, you find yourself in front of the main entrance to the museum and on both sides of it are two lions crouching in front of its door and the museum as if they are guarding it, and steps away we find a bust on a marble base of the museum’s founder Semeika Pasha, who was placed in this place as a kind of honor and return the favor, and in front of its facade The main square is a yard with many fountains with wonderful geometric shapes and a large collection of antique stones of crowns, columns, benches, sockets, coffins, some statues and pulpits made of stone, including the pulpit of St. Jeremiah, which dates back to the sixth or seventh century AD, made of stone and was found in the monastery of Anba Jeremiah Saqqara.

As you walk to the door of the museum, you notice the design of its façade, which translates the awareness of its owner, artist Ragheb Ayyad, to the common roots that unite the Egyptians. With the adorable knot topped by the Persian knot, which is in the form of a fan in the center of which is a circle in the center of a shell bearing the word majesty, and in the Coptic Museum it was replaced by the malleable cross.

In front of the history of the Coptic Museum, the idea of ​​the Coptic Museum began to rise to the surface after the French Egyptologist, Gaston Camille Charles Maspero, collected Coptic art works that were scattered in many places in Egypt, and one of the halls of the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities in Bulaq was designated for it. According to the official website of the Cairo Governorate, where he was serving as Secretary General of the Egyptian Museum at the time, and with the increase in the number of artifacts found, the Egyptian Museum hall became crowded, and he suggested the necessity of establishing an independent museum dedicated to displaying Christian antiquities.

The Egyptian Coptic researcher “Marks Samika Pasha” was the first to contribute to the founding of the museum. He demanded that the collection of Coptic antiquities be included in the interests of the Committee for the Preservation of Antiquities and Arts in 1893 AD. Pope Kyrollos V, Patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church, granted him land belonging to the Hanging Church, given the importance of The place and the greatness of its historical position, and the door for public subscription was opened for the participation of all groups of Egyptians, and the museum was built and consisted of two rooms inside the Hanging Church, and it was opened in 1910 AD, and the Coptic monuments that were present in the Egyptian Museum were collected in it, and the rest of the churches, monasteries and palaces were collected in it. Rich Copts, and Samiqa took over the management of the museum and was its first director until he passed away in October 1944.

The museum remained under the Coptic Patriarchal administration until 1931 AD, when it was transferred to the Ministry of Cultural Knowledge, and in 1947 the new wing was established during the reign of King Farouk, and the development of its old and new wings began to reopen in 1984, and in 1992, the largest earthquake in Egypt occurred in the era. Modern, this earthquake caused the destruction of a large part of the museum, so officials were forced to close it, and restoration operations began to open in 2006, after it was closed for 14 years, and as soon as you set foot on the museum’s grounds, the character of Coptic art mixed with ancient Egyptian traditions, Hellenistic and Byzantine civilizations will attract your attention. And Islamic, and the museum combines archaeological material and documents that help in studying the history of Egypt from the beginnings of Christianity until now.