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Nestled between the Hanging Church and the Roman towers of Babylon, the Coptic Museum is one of the highlights of Old Cairo (daily 9am-5pm; Ramadan 9am-3pm; GBPE16, students GBPE8, camera permit GBPE10, video permit GBPE100; tickets are sold even after the museum stops admitting visitors one hour before closing). Its peerless collection of Coptic artefacts is enhanced by the beautiful carved ceilings, beams and stained-glass domes inside its mashrabiya 'd wings, which enclose peaceful gardens. Founded in 1908 under the patronage of Patriarch Cyril V and Khedive Kamil, the museum was intended to save Christian antiques from the ravages of neglect and foreign collectors, but soon widened its mandate to embrace secular material. With artefacts from Old Cairo, Upper Egypt and the desert monasteries, the museum traces the evolution of Coptic art from Greco-Roman times into the Islamic era (300-1000 AD). Notwithstanding debts to pharaonic and Greco-Roman culture, its spirit was refreshingly unmonumental: "realistic, at times humorous", Coptic art reflected "plebian or agricultural concerns" (Stewart) and often seems homespun compared to pharaonic and Islamic craftsmanship; appropriately enough, its finest expression was in textiles. Though spread over three floors, the collection isn't so large that visitors become jaded. You can do it justice within a couple of hours, or cover it at a trot in half that time. A cafe in the grounds sells tea and biscuits; the gateway beyond gives access to the courtyard of the Hanging Church.
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