The
Cairo church of Saint Barbra (Saint Barbara was a beautiful young lady possibly of Asia Minor descent. She apparently lived during the early part of the 4th century. She was the daughter of a wealthy nobleman and merchant, Djoscorus, who was a pagan). That is now dedicated to her in
Old (Coptic) Cairo stands north of the Coptic Museum and to the east of the Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus (Abu Serga), on the eastern side of Fort Babylon. It was the most famous and beautiful church of his time in Cairo, but exactly when the Church of St. Barbara was built is speculative to some extent. As all of us know that the church burned during the Fustat fire of 750 but was restored during the 11th century, and was probably again ruined in a fire during the 12th century. The church as renovated extensively at the beginning of the 20th century, when the khurus, a transverse room preceding the sanctuary, was sacrificed in order to allow more space for the altar. The church, which is not particularly impressive from the outside, having been designed to blend in with other local architecture, takes the basilican form. It measures 26 meters long by 14.5 meters wide and 15 meters in height. There are two rows of five columns each that separate the northern and southern isles from the nave. A finely carved, wooden architrave surmounts the columns to support the roof. A number of important, as well as beautiful Christian artifacts were discovered within the Church of Saint Barbara, most of which are now on display in the nearby Coptic Museum. These include a remarkable sanctuary screen of sycamore and cedar woods from the Fatimid Period. It consists of 45 panels of various sizes carved in relief and depicting musical ceremonies, riders on galloping horses, gazelles and monks. Other items include an elaborate silver gospel casket decorated with floral designs that dates from early 15th century, and an icon of Saint Barbara that probably dates form the 16th century and is one of the oldest icons now in the
Coptic museum. This icon may have been imported from Spain. Also, the door mentioned above, which dates from the 4th or 5th century and was discovered encased between two walls during restoration work. The door's magnificent decoration has made it one of the treasures of the
Coptic Museum.
