The Church suspended |
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Collection title
Five minutes of tourism
First broadcast date
2003
Abstract
The camera of “Five minutes of tourism' visited the church suspended, one of the touristic sites of the Arab Republic of Egypt,
It highlights its history, its architecture and its culture.
Broadcaster
ERTU - Channel 1
Audiovisual form
Magazine
Primary theme
Tourist sites
Secondary themes
- Historical heritages / Latin and oriental christendom
- Tourism and cultural sites / Architecture
Map locations
- Egypt - Lower Egypt - Low Egypt
Context
The Hanging Church
Nora Demarchi
In Cairo's Coptic quarter is the Hanging Church (Al-Al-Kanissah Mou'allaqah). In this old quarter church bells can be heard chiming in harmony with the chanting of the muezzin, giving a taste of an Egypt in which religions can still co-exist.
The Hanging Church is so named because it was built in Roman times on the remains of two towers of the fortress of Babylon. Very quickly it became a Christian and Jewish enclave. The church is dedicated to the Virgin Mary and has been dated between the 5th and 6th centuries. Beside it is an even older church (3rd or 4th century) founded when Christianity was first brought to Egypt. Demolished in 840, it was later rebuilt and remodeled several times.
Originally the term Coptic, in Arabic, referred to the Egyptians – to distinguish them from the Muslim invaders. Later, as Egyptians gradually assimilated the Islamic culture and religion, it came to mean members of the old Christian faith. From the ecclesiastical point of view, the Coptic church followed the changes of the Patriarch of Alexandria, who believed in Monophysitism (Christ had a single, divine nature) splitting away from Constantinople, especially after the 4th Ecumenical Council, or Council of Chalcedon, in 451. This separation was an advantage for the Muslim conquest, which gradually consolidated and took roots in the country. The Copts, sometimes harassed but more often tolerated in legal rulings which gave them a certain autonomy, increased their separation from the rest of the Christian world, although during the Middle Ages small groups continued emigrating to the Atlantic coast. After Muhammad Ali's dynasty took power in 1805, lively intellectual currents arose in the Coptic population. Currently the Coptic faithful are estimated around 7-8 million, they remain primarily in Upper Egypt, even though the Coptic Patriarch of Alexandria usually lives in Cairo. A small church of “catholic” Copts, with three bishops and around 100,000 people, is part of the See of Rome.
The Hanging Church played a central role in this history, since from the 9th to 11th centuries it was the seat of the Coptic patriarchate, transferred to Alexandria by the Patriarch Christodoulos (1047-1077). For two centuries the building became a centre for studying theology, philosophy, law and science. Testimony of this past splendour are the beautiful icons that can still be found on its walls.
Bibliography: Brief and to the point
Capuani, M. 1999 : L’Égypte copte, Paris, Citadelles et Mazenod.
Coquin, C. 1974 : Les édifices chrétiens du Vieux Caire, vol. 1 « Bibliographie et topographie historiques », Le Caire, Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale.
Gabra, G. 1996 : Le Caire, le musée copte et les anciennes églises, Le Caire, Egyptian International Publishing Company – Longman.
Dué, A. 1997: Atlante storico del cristianesimo, Jaca Book.
