Book Review: The Illustrated Guide to the Coptic Museum and Churches of Old Cairo

The Illustrated Guide to the Coptic Museum and Churches of Old Cairo by Gawdat Gabra, The American University in Cairo Press, 2007

A lovely book. As well as being a gallery by gallery guide to the museum, with some fine photographs, it is a very useful introduction to Coptic art and heritage even if you're not visiting the Coptic Museum or the churches of old Cairo.

The Coptic Museum was damaged in the 1992 earthquake and had to be closed for a long period, only re-opening in 2006. This glossy and well written guide was brought out to serve as an authoritative guide to the contents of the museum. Because the galleries are organized by category of objects each chapter of the guide effectively introduces the reader to a new class of objects and their implications. Details of individual items are used to discuss the themes.

The Introduction explains the origins of the word "Copt" and looks at how the term has been used in the past and how it is used today. A quite short but excellent history of Coptic Christianity is provided, detailing the impacts of different peoples, rulers and religions on the urban and rural Copts. This is followed by an extremely handy chronological listing of the main dates of note, which forms something of a narrative in its own right and is a useful reference. A history of the Coptic Museum is the next chapter. As with other great museums in Egypt, it has a fascinating past and the chapter looks at the impact of individuals like Maspero and Marcus Simaila on the recognition of Coptic heritage and the development of the museum.

The next section of the book is organized gallery by gallery, starting with a plan of the ground floor. The first gallery is dedicated to masterpieces divided into three different themes which are repeated in the remaining galleries. Photographs and descriptions are provided of three examples. From then on the galleries are arranged into different themes. For example, gallery 3 focuses on relief sculpture, gallery 4 on the legacy of ancient Egypt as exemplified in objects with the looped cross (ankh), gallery 5-9 on early monasticism - and so on. In each case there is a good introductory text and this is followed by descriptions of objects which help to elaborate the ideas expressed. There are 26 galleries in all, so there is a lot of information to be gained.

The final chapter looks at the churches of Old Cairo. These are covered in brief, but are accompanied by plans and photographs.

Finally there is a useful Glossary, a list of further reading, a list of illustrations and an index.

If you are interested in Coptic heritage this book is an excellent introduction and has some gorgeous photographs.