With most of the ancient
churches of Egypt destroyed or rebuilt, the Coptic Museum is the only chance to
see this part of both Egypt's and Christianity's history. Nowhere else will you
find as much and important of Coptic art. The museum has 16,000 pieces, but
parts were closed following the 1992 earthquake.
One thing to beware when
visiting the museum is the many examples of amalgamation of ideas,
artistry and religion with the introduction of Christianity in the Egypt of
Isis, Re and Horus. Many artifacts’ shows how old representation techniques
were used by the first Christians.
Examples of this is how the ankh-symbol
(like a cross with a loop on top) was reworked into a Christian cross (room 2),
how Mary with a sucking infant Jesus was shaped after the prototype of Isis
breastfeeding Horus (room 6) and how crosses and Horus hawks were put together
on a basket-weave capital (room 2).
Probably the nicest
collection of Coptic art dates from between th 6th and the 9th centuries, and here the
Bawit Monastery near Assyut has been the main contributor (room 3)
The most important part
of the whole museum might appear modest
without explanations: the
collection of scripts. On the upper floor, you can see papyrus sheets of the
Gnostic gospels found at Nag Hammadi in 1945 (room 10). In the same room, check
out the Coptic Psalter, the oldest preserved codex in the world. It was found
in the grave of a woman dying some time around 400.