The Hanging Church (al-Moallaqa)

This Church is located in Coptic (Old) Cairo, above the southern gatehouse of Babylon Fortress. It stands thirteen metres up, hence the name ‘The Hanging (The Suspended) Church’. Built in the fifth or sixth century next to an older church dating from the third or fourth century, it was destroyed several times, notably in the ninth century, during a conflict between the governor of Egypt and the Coptic patriarch. It was reconstructed around 975, and from the eleventh century it was the Seat of the Coptic patriarchy, transferred from Alexandria by the patriarch Christodoulos (1047–1077). For two centuries the building was at the centre of the Coptic Church; it became a focal point for theological, philosophical, legal, and scientific studies.

Several legends are connected to the Hanging Church. According to one of them, the Holy Family was said to have stopped there during their flight to Egypt. Sources sometimes cite Balthazar, one of the Magi, as its founder; they also mention the riches contained in the Church: objets d’art, goldthread fabrics, silk sacerdotal clothing, and incense holders in gold and silver.

The building is accessed by a large stairway, located in the interior courtyard. The façade, to the west, is arranged on two levels: a wooden colonnade covered by a balustrade, surmounted by a floor that’s slightly set back and opened with three windows with pointed arches; a triangular fronton with an oculus surmounts the central window. Before the entrance was moved to the southern façade, worshippers would cross a wide narthex surrounded by two stairways before entering the area for worship. The latter is basilical in plan with four naves, one of which was added to the other three later on, during the restoration carried out by Ubayd Abī Khuzām in 1775. The naves are separated by white marble columns—except for one in black basalt—, each of which is surmounted with re-used Corinthian capitals. Each of the three ancient naves leads to an altar located before a semi-circular apse; the main one, in the centre, is dedicated to the Virgin, and those on the sides to John the Baptist and St George. On the southern side is the primitive Church, transformed into a chapel dedicated to an Ethiopian saint, Takla Haymanot.

The decorations are mainly in wood and marble. Outside, mashrabiyyas (turned-wood lattice screens) fill the windows and form the balustrade that overhangs the colonnade. This technique, which consists of assembling small turned wooden bobbins, was a speciality of Cairo; from the Ottoman era, panels made in this way were used to screen windows. They can also be found in much of the Islamic world, for example, in Istanbul and the Maghrib. The façade under the gatehouse is decorated with coloured marble inlay, which are reminiscent of ablaq decorations often used under the Mamluks.

Inside, wood has been used for the iconostasis, which is made from ebony and ivory, and has motifs of crosses and geometric elements. The dividing wall that separates the chapel of Takla Haymanot, which dates from the tenth century, is made from wood and mother-of-pearl. Other wooden panels, like the door lintel, carved with scenes from the life of Christ and an inscription in Greek, are held in Cairo’s Coptic Museum. Paintings must have covered the columns and walls of the building, but little trace of these remain. A saint can still be seen on one of the columns. In the chapel, however, there is a representation of Christ in the middle of the Apostles or the old men of the Apocalypse, and a Virgin with Child, recently restored. Lastly, the marble chair in the centre of the Church rests on fifteen columns.