The Coptic Church in Egypt

It is said that there are deep influential factors of ancient Egyptian life in the distinguished religious music of the Coptic Orthodox Church, since it was first founded by St. Mark the Evangelist in the first century AD. "The Coptic Church is an ancient Egyptian glory", said Egypt's prominent thinker Dr.Taha Husssein about the dominant Christian church. He believed that the spiritual music of the church is the richest in the world, and is somehow revives similar music to that which was once performed in the Pharaonic era.

After the Copts adopted the new faith of Christianity, the grandchildren of Pharaohs were inclined to compose their own spiritual songs on the basis of pre-existing music from their time.

During the Roman Empire the church decreed a ban on the use of musical instruments - except for tambourines and other primary instruments - in order to distract the attention of Roman authorities who at the time were persecuting Christians. They decided instead to depend on the power of their larynx.

Until today, the church plays hymns depending on ancient Egyptian tunes, especially during the Passion Week where they perform music, typical of funereal ceremonies thousands of years ago.

Similarly, the Coptic Museum is a rendition of the Coptic vibrant spirit on their works of art. In fact, the Coptic Museum in Cairo initially started as a church museum, until in 1908 its founder, Marcus Simeika (Pasha), tirelessly and with great determination and sense of vision undertook the creation of the full fledged Coptic Museum, and in 1910 the Coptic Museum was opened in Cairo, the capital of Egypt.

The Coptic Museum contains several divisions that present many types of Coptic Arts yet its most valuable possessions are the ancient icons which go back to the 12th century.

Aside from exotic artifacts dating from 200 to 1800AD, showing ancient Egyptian influence on early Christian design (such as the Christian crosses developed from the Pharaonic Ankh or key of life), the museum has ancient illuminated manuscripts such as the Psalms of David that are 1600 years old.

In addition, the oldest known stone pulpit, from the Monastery of St. Jeremiah in Saqqara belonging to the 6th century, is also kept there.

Significantly, of the four main museums in Egypt, the Coptic Museum is the only one to be founded by Marcus Simeika (Pasha). He did not only wish to collect precious artifacts, but also ensured that they were housed in a physical environment which was in harmony with the culture that they represented. The recent renovation of the museum honors the memory of Marcus Simeika.

In 1989, the Coptic Museum in Cairo began a project restoring the icons in cooperation with Dutch citizen Susanna Shalova. Consequently, the Coptic Orthodox Church and the SCA (Supreme Council of Antiquities) supported the major project, counting, dating and reviewing more than 2000 icons on the premises and - despite difficulties in restoring the 17-19th century exhibits – at least 31 icons from the Coptic Museum have been restored in compliance with the principles of the old school of restoration.

This project was funded by the American Research Center in Cairo.

In the days when Simeika thought about building the Coptic museum in the Old Cairo district, he chose motifs that were used on the façade of the famous Al-Azhar Mosque. This confirms the harmony that bonds the Egyptian religions and civilizations.

The harmony, however, did not prevent the lofty competition between the exhibitions of Pharaonic monuments and Coptic monuments. The latter, in addition to holding historical value also holds religious and spiritual value, stories of saints and symbols of the Coptic Orthodox faith, which makes Coptic monuments no less valuable than Pharaonic ones.