Coptic Cairo & the Hanging Church

الكنيسة المعلقة، مصر القديمة

A church perched on a Roman gate, in lanes of Holy Family legend

Hours

Coptic Museum daily 9am–5pm; Abu Serga and Ben Ezra 9am–4pm (per Wikivoyage)

Tickets

Hanging Church free; Coptic Museum EGP 280 (photo permit EGP 50, cards only)

Address

The old Roman fortress opposite Mar Girgis station; the Hanging Church is 100 m right of the Coptic Museum entrance

Churches and a synagogue cluster inside the remains of the Roman fortress of Babylon. The Hanging Church sits on top of the fortress's south gatehouse, so part of its nave is suspended over a passage, under a wooden roof shaped like Noah's Ark. Up the steps you find an ivory-inlaid screen and old icons. A few minutes deeper into the lanes are Abu Serga, where the Holy Family is said to have sheltered, and the Ben Ezra Synagogue, making an easy half-day stroll.