Egypt Tours & Travel Guide

31/12/2014

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2015
BONNE ANNEE 2015

29/11/2014

اللهم احفظ مصر و احفظ دماء المصريين,,,,,,,
God save Egypt and save the blood of the Egyptians
Dieu sauve l'Egypte et sauver le sang des Egyptiens

20/10/2014

Sultan Hassan Madrassa and Mosque

It is one of the extraordinarily wonderful Islamic Monuments In the Islamic World. Actually if Ancient Egypt has to proud of the Pyramids of Guiza , Islamic Egypt has to be proud of the Sultan Hassan Madrassa. The founder of this gigantic monument is The sultan Hassan son of the great Mameluke sultan Al Nasser mohamed Ibn Qalawoun. Sultan Hassan ruled twice, the first time in 1347 when he was 13 years old but he was dethroned by the other Mameluke princes and generals. The second time was in 1356 AD , and before he had time to put an end to the power of the princes and high officials , they revolted against him and the chief of the army with other generals attacked him. It said that he escaped from the citadel and hide in Cairo but he was discovered and imprisoned, then he was never seen again. Most probably he was murdered after 16 years of his ascending to the throne and he left 10 sons and 6 daughters. The sultan hassan gave order for the construction of this Madrassa to be under the supervision of Prince Mohamad Ibn Baylik Al Muhssani in 1361 AD ,the works continued 4 years.

Sultan Hassan mosque

The mosque was almost complete when sultan Hassan disappeared or killed. Then it was finished completely by one of his functionaries who was called Bashir Al Gamdar. The place of the Madrassa was known before as Souq Al Khayl or the Horses Market. The Madrassa was built of stones, but some internals parts and details were built of bricks faced with stones. The Madrassa-Mosque was built according to the cruciform, an open courtyard surrounded by 4 Iwans. It contains 4 Madrassas or ( religious schools) .It is 7906 m2. It is distinguished by its many sides. It has 4 façades , the most important the 2 main façades.

The most remarkable façade is the Northern-East. It is 145 m. in length and it is 38 m. in height. Its shear wall has 4 pairs of windows set vertically. At the top of the wall is a massive cornice of 5 layers of stalactites projecting about 1.5 m.
The Sahn or the court of the Mosque is almost square about 34 m. L. and 32 m.W. with a large ablution fountain in the center. The ablution fountain is covered with a wooden dome carried on8 marble columns around its nick decorated with a band of inscriptions of The Koran ( the verse of Al Kursi) . At each corner of the Sahn ( the court) is a door leads to one of the 4 Madrassas ( schools), the bigest one is the Hanafiyya Madrassa, which occupies an area of 898 m.sq.
The Quibla Iwan is the biggest of the 4 Iwans of the Mosque.In its wall 2 windows in recesses and oculus above the Mihrab, the Pointed-arched Mihrab is fine and covered with marble and there are double small clumns supported the frame with complex joggled voussoirs .

On the rectangular outer frame is a band of Naskhi inscription. Flanking the Mihrab are windows with bronze grills. The Marble Minbar is covered with colored panels of marble decorated in its upper part by floral moifs. Dekkat Al mouballegh or the bench of the repeater, it situated at the front of the Quibla Iwan, it is made of marble raised on 8 pillars and 3 piers.
There are 2 doors opened in the quibla wall leading to a mausoleum dome behind the Mihrab where the sultan is supposed to be buried . The Mausoleum dome is 21 m sq. and its decoration is similar to that of the quibla Iwan.

The grave itself Iwan the center with a coffin of coloured marble, surrounded by a small wooden screen. It was intended to be a tomb for the sultan Hassan but it contains the bodies of 2 of his sons named Al Shehab Ahamd and Ishmael. Actually 4 minarets were intended to be built in the original plan but only 3 were erected, the one over the entrance fell in the year 1361 AD . Now there are 2 minarets one dates back to the Ottoman period in the 17th Century while the bigger and the most beautiful one ( 81.6 m H.) is the original. This remarkable minaret stand at the Southern corner or the Eastern façade. and still one of the amazing features of this elegant structure.

20/10/2014

The mosque of Muhammad ’Ali Pasha

The mosque of Muhammad ’Ali Pasha was built between 1828 and 1848. Perched on the summit of the citadel, this Ottoman mosque, the largest to be built in the first half of the 19th c., is, with its animated silhouette and twin minarets, the most visible mosque in Cairo.
It is built on the site of Mameluke palaces destroyed at the behest of the patron, an act reminiscent of that of Saladin who wiped out all traces of Fatimid power by dismantling their palaces, and it also superseded the adjacent Mosque of al-Nasir Muhammad as the new state mosque. This first independent ruler of Egypt chose to build his state mosque entirely in the architectural style of his former overlords, the Ottomans, unlike the Mamelukes who, despite their political submission to the Ottomans, tenaciously stuck to the architectural styles of the two Mameluke dynasties. But then, as an Ottoman governor of Albanian origin, his primary identification was with the Ottomans rather than his local subjects and he even had designs on the Sultanate for a time.
This mosque, with its general scheme consisting of a square sanctuary covered by a central dome flanked by four half-domes, is a conscious revival of Ottoman imperial style. The style, however, was not the only imperial aspect that the architect strived to emulate.
The monumental scale of the sanctuary rivals that of Sultan Ahmet (1609-17); the adjoining courtyard surrounded by the typical domed porticoes is of a larger area than that of the Süleymaniye (1550-57); the slightly pointed dome, although of a diameter smaller than its Ottoman counterparts, has a profile equal in height to that of the Süleymaniye and higher than that of the Selimiye (1569-74); the height of the minarets is unrivaled by any of their Ottoman counterparts. The mosque’s decoration style shows strong European influence, characteristic of Ottoman architecture in Istanbul from this period.

20/10/2014

Saint Catherine's Monastery

In 342 A.D The Empress Helena mother of Constantine the Great built a monastery including the chapel known as the Virgin Mary at the burning Bush site where it is believed that Moses received the two tablets. In the 6th century AD the Emperor Justinian ordered the building of the church known today as the church of Transfiguration, both the church and the monastery were later named for Saint Catherine. Also Justinian ordered the building of a high enclosure wall with towers to protect the monastery, and it is said that he provided it with 200 Roman soldiers to protect it against the attacks of the Bedouins.
The monastery lies at the foot of Moses mountain where the beauty of nature and climate and the fresh well water. To its west is El Raha Valley. It was built on a high location about 1570 feet above the level of the sea.

The most important Elements of the Monastery:
1- The Enclosure wall and the Gate.
2- The Great Church
3- The Burning Bush Chapel
4- The Fatimid Mosque
5- The Library
6- The Wells
7- The oil press
8- The Garden
9- The Monks Cells
10-The Guests dwellings
11-The two Mills
12-The Grain stores


1- The Enclosure wall:
This monastery is similar to the fortresses of the middle ages and it is provided with an enclosure wall of granite stones including towers at its corners and surrounded inner buildings .The height of the wall is from 12 to 15 m. while its sides measure 117 ,80 ,77,76 m.
The Original Gate:
The original gate is actually located at the western side, but it is now blocked, and to its left is the gate which is used at present, this actual gate was made in 1801.

2- The Main Church (The Great Church ):
It was built at the Northern side of the monastery. It takes the shape of a basilica and it consists of a central nave and two aisles that lead to small chapels. The central nave ends with the altar at its eastern side and the aisles end with 2 rooms. Near to the Altar to the right there is a reliquary of marble which contains the relics of St. Catherine. The abs is covered by wonderful Byzantine mosaic the visitors to this church must take off their shoes outside before they enter, imitating Moses when he approached this holly place.

*The monastery contains about 2000 icons which is considered as one of the most important collections of icons in the world. Some of them date back to the 5th century and the 8th century.

3- The Mosque:
It was built during the caliphate of Al- Amer Be Ahkam Allah in 500 A.H (1106 A.D), to be a resting place for the pilgrims who pass by the monastery in their way to mekka. It is situated to the Southwest of the main church .It is a small mosque and rectangular in shape .It measures 11m in length and 7 m in width, its walls are built of granite mortared with loam clay, and it covered from inside and out side by loam clay plaster. The mosque consists of 3 Riwaqs , the middle one is the biggest . It has a main Mihrab flanked by 2 others. The floor of the mosque is covered with hip tiles, but not the original. The roof is covered with wood and reed, tiled with hip tiles. This roof stands on circular arches supported on 2 piers.

4- The Library:
The monastery contains one of the most important religious libraries in the world since it contains a great number of very rare and old manuscripts. This library has a large number of decrees of the Caliphs and the rulers. In recent years it had received great attention by many scholars, as most of the manuscripts had been microfilmed by Alexandria University and the Congress Library in Washington.

5- The Wells:
There are many wells inside the monastery, the most important are the well of Moses, north the main church. The Burning Bush well, and Saint Stephan’s well south the Main church.

6- The Oil Press:
It situated below the mosque, below its courtyard. It is for squeezing Olives to extract oil. Its ceiling is roofed by wooden beams and reed ties resting on granite arches. The floor of the yard is provided with lanterns to lighten the oil press.

7-The Garden:
In the front of the monastery there is a garden including a cemetery for the monks in the middle, and a skull house beside it , the monks used to bury their dead and leave the bodies for a certain period , then they collect their bones and deposit them in that skull house .

8- The Guests dwellings (or the guest house):
Inside the enclosure wall there is a small building which was constructed in 1863 during the reign of Khedive Ishmael. It dedicated for the dwelling of the visitors and the guests of the monastery.

20/10/2014

The Hanging Church (El Muallaqa, Sitt Mariam, St Mary) derives its name from its location on top of the southern tower gate of the old Babylon fortress (in Old or Coptic Cairo) with its nave suspended above the passage.

It is the most famous Coptic Christian church in Cairo as well as the first built in Basilcan style (possibly). By the 11th century AD, it became the official residence of the Coptic patriarchs of Alexandria.

The church, which measures 23.5 meters long, 18.5 meters wide and 9.5 meters high, can be reached by steps 29 steps. It became known to travelers during the 14th and 15th centuries as the "staircase church" because of these steps, which in turn lead to an open court.

Apparently the church was originally built in a traditional basilican plan with three aisles, a narthex and tripartite sanctuary.

The main body of the current church, with its notable timber wagon-vaulted roof, features a central nave and two narrow aisles separated by eight columns on each side. Between the nave and the north aisle is a row of three columns spanned by wide lancet arches. The columns between the aisles are made of white marble, with the exception of one built of black basalt. Some of the capitals are Corinthian, and so were probably removed from older buildings.

20/10/2014

The Holy Family in Egypt

The Holy Family in Egypt
The advent of the Holy Family to Egypt, seeking refuge, is an event of the utmost significance in our dear country's long, long history.
Moved by the spirit of prophecy, Hosea foresaw the flight from Bethlehem where there was no safe place forth Christ Child to lay his head, and the eventual return of the holy refugees from Their sanctuary in Egypt, where Jesus had found a place in the hearts of the Gentiles, when he uttered God's words: "Out of Egypt have I called My SOH ".
(Hosea 11: 1) In the Biblical Book of Isaiah, the prophet provides us with a divinely inspired prediction of the effect the holy infant was to have on Egypt and the Egyptians: "Behold, the Lord rides on a swift cloud, and will come into Egypt, and the idols of Egypt will totter at His Presence, and the heart of Egypt will melt in the midst of it". (Isaiah 19: 1)

The authority of Old Testament prophecy, which portended the crumbling of idols wherever Jesus went, further foreshadowed the singular blessing to be bestowed upon Egypt, for its having been chosen as the Holy Family's haven, and upon its people for having been the first to experience the Christ's miraculous influence.

God's message, also delivered through the prophetic utterance of Isaiah, ''Blessed be Egypt, My People ,' (Isaiah 1 9: 25 ), was an anticipation of the coming of St. Mark to our country, where the Gospel he preached took firm root in the first decades of Christianity. For Isaiah goes on to prophecy: "in that day there Will be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt; and a pillar to the Lord, at its border. And it will be for a .sign and for a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt". (Isaiah 19: 19 & 20).

According to the traditions of the Coptic Church, 'the altar' mentioned is that of the Church of Virgin Mary in Al-Muharraq Monastery, a site where the Holy Family settled for a period of more than six months; and the altar-stone was the ‘bed' upon

which the Infant Savior lay. Al Muharraq Monastery is located, literally, "in the midst of the land of Egypt"....standing at its exact geographical center. As for the "pillar at its borders.... which will be for a sign and for a witness..." surely there can be no more demonstrable, concrete proof of the fulfillment of the prophecy than that the Patriarchal See of the Apostolic Church in Egypt,

The advent of the Holy Family
Established by St. Mark himself, is situated in Alexandria, on Egypt's northern borders. But the prophecy, knitting a perfect pattern of things to come, does not stop there. It continues, "Then the Lord will be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the Lord in that day and will make sacrifice and offering". (Isaiah 19: 21). As Christianity in Egypt spread, churches were built throughout the length and breadth of the land, and the sites chosen were, primarily, those which, had been visited and blessed by the Holy Family's sojourns. The New Testament records the fulfillment of these Old Testament prophecies as they unfold in their historical sequence.
"…….behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word, for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him ". ( Matthew 2 :13 ) Joseph complied. A donkey was fetched for the gentle Mother, still so young in years, to ride with her new-born Child in Her arms. And so they set out from Bethlehem on their predestined journey, the hardened old carpenter, who was Mary's betrothed, striding ahead, leading the donkey by its leash into the untracked paths of a wilderness dark as the desert nights, and unending as the months of never ending horizons.

Such an arduous journey it was, fraught with hazard every step of the way. In those far-off days, there were three routes which could be followed by travelers traversing Sinai from Palestine to Egypt, a crossing which was usually undertaken in groups, for without the protection of well-organized caravans, the ever-present dangers - even along these known and trodden paths-were ominously forbidding.

But, in their escape from the infanticidal fury of King Herod, the Holy Family - understandably - had to avoid the beaten tracks altogether, and to pursue unknown paths, guided by God and His Angel.
They picked their way, day after day, through hidden valleys and across uncharted plateaus in the (then) rugged wastelands of Sinai, enduring the scorching heat of the sun by day and the bitter cold of the desert nights, preserved from the threat of wild beasts and savage tribesmen, their daily sustenance miraculously provided, the all-too-human fears of the young Mother for her Infant allayed by the faith that infused her with His birth.

And so they arrived, at last, safely, for God had pre-ordained that Egypt should be the refuge for the One who was to bring the message of peace and love to mankind.

The tortuous trails they followed in their passage across Sinai, and their subsequent travels within Egypt, are chronicled by Pope Theophilus, 23rd Patriarch of Alexandria (384 - 412 AD).

He testifies, in his celebrated annals, that on the eve of the 6th of Hathor (the Coptic month corresponding roughly with November), after long prayer, the Holy Virgin revealed herself to him and, after relating the details of the Holy Family's journey to, in, and from Egypt, bade him record what he had seen and heard.

It is a source which no Christian believer would question.
Besides, it is a virtual certainty that, at a time when happenings of a momentous or historical nature were transmitted by word of mouth from one generation to the next, the account of Pope Theophilus's vision confirmed the oral tradition of supernatural occurrences which accompanied the arrival of a wondrous Child in the towns and villages of Egypt some 400 years earlier.

The Holy Family at el-Zaranik & Farma
According to the sources of the Coptic Church, chief among which is the vision documented by Pope Theophilus,and recorded in the Coptic Senexarium the Holy Family proceeded from Bethlehem to Gaza, and thence to El-Zaraniq (also known as Floussiat), some37 kms west of El-Arish; then they threaded their way along northern Sinai until they reached Farama (ancient Pelusium) mid-way between El-Arish and present-day Port Said. It Sinai their last stop in Sinai ; and with the next leg of their journey they put the perils of the wilderness behind them

The Holy Family at Basta Town

Tel Basta -or Basta- which they now enter, is a short distance from Zagazig the main town in the Sharqiah Governorate about 100 Kms north-east of Cairo. Here, Jesus Caused a water spring o well up from the ground and his presence caused the idols
to crumble, as foretold by the prophets of old. The townsfolk, in consequence, turned malevolent and aggressive, whereupon the Holy Family turned their backs on the town and headed southwards

The Holy Family at the town of Mostorod

Interiors of the Crypt

Steps of the Crypt - Virgin Mary Church -Mostorod
In due course, they reached Mostorod (which came to be called, in those days, 'AlMahamma') only about 10 kms away from Cairo. 'Al-Mahamma' means 'the Bathing Place', a name given to the town because the Virgin Mary bathed the Christ Child and washed his clothes.

It is worthy of note that, eventually, on their way back to Palestine, the Holy Family stopped once more at Mostorod and, this time, caused a spring to gush from the earth which still flows forth to the present day
The Holy Family at the town of Belbeis

Icons at Virgin Mary Church - Belbeis

From Mostorod, the Holy Family made their way north-eastwards to Belbeis (ancient Philippos), back in Sharqiah Governorate,and at a distance of about 55 kms from Cairo.

They rested there in the shade of a tree which came to be called, ‘The Virgin Mary's Tree

The Holy Family at Meniet Samonoud

Al - Shaheed (Martyr) Abanob Church
Samanoud - Gharbeiah
Having left their mark on Belbeis
the Holy Family set off in a north-westerly direction and, reaching the small township of Meniet Samannoud (knoun also MenietGenah),they crossed the Nile to the city of Samanoud (or Jemnoty) in the Delta, where the local population received them with a kindness and hospitality that earned them deserved blessing.

Interiors of Martyr Abanob Church Samanoud -Gharbeiah

There is in Samannoud,to this day, a large granite trough which, according to local belief, was used by the Virgin for kneading dough, and a water-well which the Christ Child Himself hallowed.

Again towards the north-west, the Holy Family now travelled until they reached the city of Sakha, in the lake-district of Burullus, in the present-day Governorate of Kafr El-Shei

The Holy family at Sakha Town

Christ's footprint on a stone Virgin Mary Church - Sakha - Kafr El Sheikh

The Coptic name of the town, 'Pekha -Issous', (vernacularized to Lysous) means, 'the foot of Jesus'; for the Holy Child's foot-print was marked, here, in bas-relief on a rock. The rock was preserved, but hidden for centuries for fear of robbery, and only unearthed again 13 years ago
Boptismal font at Virgin Mary Church - Sakha

The natural course of the Holy family's journey from Samannoud to Sakha would have taken them through many of the towns and cities now lying in both Governorates of Gharbia and Kafr El-Sheikh and, according to some folk traditions, through the Belqas wastelands as well

The Holy Family at Wadi el-Natroun

Ancient Refectory Table

Their trail from Sakha, is recorded in the documentation of Pope Theophilus's vision, and attested to by Coptic practice in the Christian era For it was to Wadi el Natroun (Natroun Valley) that they now came, after crossing the Rosetta branch of the Nile to the western Delta, and heading south into Wadi el-Natroun (then called Al Asqeet in the Western Desert of Egypt

In the earliest decades of Christianity, the desert expanses of Wadi el-Natroun became the site of anchoretic settlement and, later, of many monasteries, in spiritual commemoration of the Holy Family's passage through the Valley.

Interiors of the Monastery Chapel

The Prophecies gate
The Holy family at Matarayea & Ain Shams & Zeitoun
Eventually, they left the desert behind them and made their way southwards, crossing the Nile to its eastern bank,and heading for Matariyah and Ain Shams (ancient Heliopolis, the site of the oldest university' in history called since earliest Pharaonic times, ‘On'). Both these adjacent districts are outlying suburbs of present day Cairo, only 10 kms or so from the city center.

At the time of the Holy Family's arrival there, Ain Shams was home to a large Jewish community, who had erected a temple - the Synagogue of Unias, - for their worship. In Matareyah, a tree stil1 stands to this day, still regularly visited, called 'Mary's Tree", for the Family is believed to have rested in its shade. Here, too, the Infant Jesus caused water to flow from a spring, from which .

He drank and blessed, and in which the Virgin washed His clothes. She poured the washing water on to the ground, and from that spot, the fragrant balsam plant blossomed: besides the healing and pain-soothing properties of this balm, its essence is used in the preparation of the scents and perfumes of which the holy Chrism is composed

Eventually, they left the desert behind them and made their way southwards, crossing the Nile to its eastern bank,and heading for Matariyah and Ain Shams ancient Heliopolis, the site of the oldest university' in history called since earliest Pharaonic times, ‘On'

Both these adjacent districts are outlying suburbs of present day Cairo, only 10 kms or so from the city center. At the time of the Holy Family's arrival there, Ain Shams was home to a large Jewish community, who had erected a temple - the Synagogue of Unias, - for their worship. In Matareyah, a tree stil1 stands to this day, still regularly visited, called 'Mary's Tree", for the Family is believed to have rested in its shade. Here, too, the Infant Jesus caused water to flow from a spring, from which . He drank and blessed, and in which the Virgin washed His clothes. She poured the washing water on to the ground, and from that spot, the fragrant balsam plant blossomed: besides the healing and pain-soothing properties of this balm, its essence is used in the preparation of the scents and perfumes of which the holy Chrism is composed
Setting out next towards Old Cairo, the Holy Family rested for a while in Zeitoun, on their way; then proceeded along a course which traverses what are now crowded, bustling quarters of Cairo, within which the serene landmarks of an earlier Coptic heritage still stand, marking the paths the Holy Family followed. A listing of these landmarks, at this point, may be of pertinent interest

The Holy Family within the area of old Cairo
The Cathedral of St. Mark - Ezbekieh
Entrance of the Cathedral of St. Mark -Ezbakieh - Central Cairo
The Holy Family within the area of Mid Cairo

In Central Cairo
-The Church of the Virgin Mary in
Zuweila Ailey.
-The Church of St. George the Martyr.
-The Church of St.Mercurios Abu Sefein
(he of the Two Swords).
-The Convent of the Virgin Mary.
The Convent of St. George.
In the down-town district of Clot Bey
The Cathedral of St. Mark in Azbekich.
-Numerous churches attached to the Cairo headquarters of many of Egypt's monasteries.
(The Church of the Virgin Mary (known by the name: Ezbaweya).

The old Family within the area of old Cairo

Interiors of the Church of St. Barbara - Old Cairo

The area now called Old Cairo, known as Misr EI Kadhna, is among the most important locations visited by the Holy Family where the spiritual impact of their presence is most felt still; though their stay was brief, for the Governor of what was then Fustat - enraged by the tumbling down of idols at Jesus's approach - sought to kill the Child

But they took shelter from his wrath in a cave above which, in the later years, the Church of Abu Serga (St Sergius) was built. This, and the whole area of the Fort of Babylon, is a destination of pilgrimage not only for the Egyptians but for Christians from around the world. An air of piety and devotion pervades the whole district

Here, too, it is useful to list the sites which visitors to the Fortress of Babylon section of Old Cairo take in
-The Church of Abu Serga and the Crypt of the Holy Family beneath it
The Church of St. Barbara
The Church of St. George (in the Palace of Waxworks
The Church of the Virgin, identified by its alternative name of Qasriet Al-Rihan (Basil Pot

- Al-Muallaqa (Hanging Church),dedicated to the Virgin Mary, Patriarchal See of the Coptic Church in the early centuries

The Convent of St George

The Coptic Museum and the raniparts of the Fortress of Babylon
The Greek Orthodox Church of St. George
The Jewish Synagogue of Ben Ezra

:The Fustat section of Old Cairo, which lies west of the Mosque of Amr Ibn'l Aas, includes

The Church of St. Mercurios Abu Sefein ( he of the two Swords
The Church of Abba Shenouda
The Church of the Virgin Mary of l-Demshiria
The Convent of Abu Sefein
The Church of the Virgin of Babylon El Darag
The Church of Saints Abakir and Yohanna
The Church of Prince Tadros Al Mishrigi
The Church of the.Archangel Mikhail (known also as AlMalak Al-Qibli - or Southern Angel'
The Church of St. Mena in Zahraa - Misr El Kadim
THE HOLY FAMILY AT MAADY

Virgen Mary Church - Maadi

After their short, but all-too-felt, stay in Old Cairo, the Holy Family moved in a southerly direction, reaching the modern Cairo suburb of Maadi which, in earliest Pharaonic times was an outlying district of Memphis, the capital of Egypt then; and, at Maudi, they boarded

a sailing-boat which carried them up the Nile towards southern Egypt. The historic church built upon the spot from which they embarked, also dedicated to the Virgin, is further identified by the denominative, 'Al-Adaweya', the Virgin's Church 'of the Fen y'

(In fact, the name of that now modem suburb, Maadi, derives from the Arabic word which means 'the Crossing Point')

The stone steps leading down to the River's bank, and believed to have been used by the Holy Family, are accessible to pilgrims through the Church courtyard

An event of miraculous import occurred on Friday the 3rd of the Coptic month of Baramhat - the 12th of March-1976 A.D A Holy Bible of unknown provenance was carried by the lapping ripples of the Nile to the bank below the Church

"It was open to the page of Isaiah 19:25 the page declaring, "Blessed be Egypt My People
The Bible is now behind glass in the Sanctuary of the Virgin in the Church for all to see

THE HOLY FAMILY AT AL GARNOUS

MONASTERY - MAGHAGHA

Interiors of Virgen Mary Church - Al Garnous Monastery - Maghagha

The sail-boat docked at the village of Deir Al- Garnous (the later site of the Monastery of Arganos) 10 kms west of Ashnein el Nassara (a small village near the town of Maghagha)

Outside the western wall of the Church of the Virgin there a deep well is believed to have provided the Holy Family with the water they needed

THE HOLY FAMILY AT AL- BAHNASSA

El - Barsha Monastery Church

They went on from there to a spot later named Abai Issous, "the Home of Jesus", the site of present-day Sandafa village, east of Al-Bahnassa which, itself; stands some 17 kms west of the town of Beni Mazar

THE HOLY FAMILY AT GABAL AL TAIR - SAMALOUT
On towards the south they went from Bahnassa to Samalout and crossed the Nile again from that town to the spot on the east bank of the River where the Monastery of the Virgin now stands upon Gabal El-Tair ('Bird Mountain') east of Samalout, 2Kms south of Meadoyat Beni Khaled.

It is known by this name (Gabal El-Tair) because thousands of birds gather there. The Holy Family rested in the cave which is now located inside the ancient church there. Gabal El-Tair is also called Gabal El-Kaf ('Palm (Mountain'

Coptic tradition maintains that, as the Holy Family rested in the shade of the Mountain, Jesus stretched His little hand to hold back a rock which was about to detach itself from the mountain-side and fall upon them. The imprint of His palm is still visible

THE WORSHIPPER AT GABAL EL-TAIR

When they resumed their travels, the Holy Family passed a laurel tree a stone's throw south of Gabal El-Tair, along the pathway flanking the Nile and leading from the Mountain to Nazlet Ebeid and the New Minia Bridge of today. It is claimed that this tree bowed for worship the Lord Christ - glory be to Him as he was passing

The configuration of the Tree is, indeed,unique: all its branches incline downwards, trailing on the ground, then turn upwards again, covered in a cloak of green leaves. They call the tree Al Abed-"The Worshipper"

THE HOLY FAMILY CROSSES

THE RIVER NILE FROM

THE EASTERN TO WESTERN BANK

The Crypt of Virgen Mary Church - Gabal El Tair
Samalout

THE HOLY FAMILY AT AL ASHMOUNEIN TOWN - MALAWY

Once more crossing the Nile, back to its west bank, the Holy Family travelled southward to the town of Al-Ashmounein or Hermopolis Magna- but it seems that they did not tarry long there.

Ruins of Roman Monuments - AL Ashmounein
Minia

THE HOLY FAMILY AT DAIROUT AL-SHARIF

Leaving behind them the rubble of fallen idols, they continued still in a southerly direction, for another 20 kms or so to Dairout Al-Sharif (which, like Al-A'shmonein, had an alternative Greek name: Philes);

THE HOLY FAMILY AT QUSSUAM

and thence to Qussuam (or Qost Qoussia) Here, too, the recorded events testify that the townsfolk were infuriated when the stone statue of their local deity cracked and fell, and evicted the Holy Family from the town. A historically recorded incident dating to that period refers to the devastation of Qussqatn, and Coptic tradition asserts that the min that he fell the town was the consequence of its violent rejection of the gentle visitors.

THE HOLY FAMILY AT MEIRA

We have an entirely different story in the warm welcome with which the holy refugees were met at their next stop at Meir (or Meira) only 7 kms west of Qoussia . Here, they found only consideration and hospitality wherever they went, for which treatment the town and its people were signally blessed.

THE HOLY FAMILY AT MOUNT QUSSQAM

The Monastery of Al Muharraq
Gabal (Mount) Qussqam - Assiut

Now it was time for the Holy Family to set out for what is, arguably, the most meaningful destination of all in the land of Egypt,the Place wherethere would be "an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt". Gabal (Mount) Qussqarn, which takes its name from the town nearby that was laid waste is 327 kms south of Cairo. and stands in the Governorate of Assuit. The Monastery of Al Muharraq nestles against the western footlhills of the Mounlain. It was built around the area where the Holy Family remained just over six months Their time as spent mainly in cave which became in the Coptic era the alt r of the Church of Virgin Mary built at the western d of the Monastery compound The altar-stone was the resting place of the Child Jesus during the months He dwelt there.

The whole area-the Monastery and its surroundings - is redolent of the Coptic Christian ethos So hallowed are its intimations that the Copts of Egypt named it the Second Bethlehem.
It was here at the very spot where Al-Muharraq Monastery stands that the Angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said "Arise, and take the young Child and His mother, and go into the land of Israel; for they are dead which sought the young Child's life" (Matthew 2:20 (& 21

THE RETURN

And so they set forth on the return journey The route they took deviated slightly from the one by which they had come it took them to Mount Dronka, 8 Kms south-west of the city of Assiut, and their blessing of this location was commemorated h. the Christian era by the building of the mountain-top Monastery of Dronka

Eventually, they arrived at Old Cairo, then Matariyah, and on m Mahamma, retracing more or less their steps on their outward journey across Sinai to Palestine

Subsequent Biblical history says it all: at the end, they arrived home, Joseph's old house. in the small town of Nazareth, in Galilee, in the land of Palestine, from where the message of Christ would, in the fullness of time, be heard

The whole journey, from the initial flight from Bethlehem to the return to Nazareth lasted over three years

They had covered something like 2000 kms; their means of transport a weak beast of burden and the occasional sail-boat on the Nile. But for much of the way, the delicate Mother and the rugged old Carpenter must
have trudged on foot, enduring the fierce summer heat and the biting winter's cold, suffering the pangs of hunger and the parching affliction of thirst ... Like hunted outlaws. It was a journey of indescribable agony and anguish which the Child Jesus, his Virgin Mother and the Sainted Joseph bore with inner joy, and survived, for the sake of mankind.

BLESSED BE EGYPT MY PEOPLE
( ISAIAH 19:25 )

On the 24th day of the Coptic month of Bashans , which corresponds to the 1st June , the Coptic celeprates the entry of the Lord Jesus Christ into the Land of Egypt

On that day , the churches throghtout the length and breadth of the land that gave the Holy Family shalter resound with the words of the Doxology

"Rejoice, Oh Egypt; Oh, people of Egypt and all ye Children of Egypt who live within its borders, rejoice and lift up your hearts, for the lover of all manked, He who has been before the beginning of ages, has come to you"