Coptic Museum, Cairo (must see)

The Coptic Museum in Cairo houses the largest collection of early Egyptian Christian art in the world. Its displays tell the story of Egypt between the age of the Pharaohs and the establishment of Islamic rule.

The museum was established by Marcus Simaika Pasha in 1910. It was built on land intended for a Coptic church after the founder obtained permission from Pope Cyril V of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria. The building and surrounding garden cover an area of 8,000 square meters. The museum contains objects donated by the Coptic community, as well as artifacts that were once housed in the Egyptian Museum. It became a state museum in 1931.

Exhibits at the Coptic Museum are arranged across two floors. The museum also has a library containing around 1,200 Nag Hammadi manuscripts, a valuable collection of early Christian Gnostic texts discovered near the town of Nag Hammadi in Upper Egypt. The library is open only to researchers and historians.

The first floor displays religious artifacts and objects made of carved stone, along with stucco work, religious frescoes, and wooden objects. The second floor contains textiles, manuscripts, a valuable collection of Coptic icons, and metal objects. The museum's collection comprises more than 16,000 works of art, of which around 12,000 are displayed at any given time.