Wednesday, July 15, 2020

POTD: Hanging Church

From 2019 11 18 Old Cairo

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Cairo, Egypt. It's a photo of what's best known as the "Hanging Church" in that it was built above a gatehouse of the much older Babylon Fortress. As near as I can figure out, the Babylon Fortress was built about 100 CE and the Hanging Church about 500 years later. I'm guessing Nile River floods filled in the area in that time and the church was originally built at its era's ground level. Sometime in the last 1,400 years, the fortress was excavated and stairs had to be built to reach the now "hanging" church. If so, it isn't the only such architectural oddity we saw in Egypt.

Bonus photos after the jump.



From 2019 11 18 Old Cairo

From 2019 11 18 Old Cairo

3 comments:

Joseph Corcoran said...

I loved Cairo - and Old Cairo was easily one of my favorite parts. I hope you had the opportunity to explore some of the side streets and little coffee houses that littered the city.

Joseph Corcoran said...

Oh! And walk around some of the above-ground tombs in Old Cairo as well

Mark Steger said...

We had three days in Cairo and were pretty much on the go the whole time. I'd like to go back and take time to explore the side streets and alleys and coffeehouses...and above-ground tombs. Maybe someday.