The Coptic Museum, Old Cairo

The Coptic Museum is in Old Cairo, beside the Hanging Church, and it holds the art of Egypt's Christian era: wall paintings, textiles, woodwork, stone carving, icons and stained glass. Estimates of the collection run from about 15,000 to about 16,000 objects.

It was founded by Marcus Simaika (1864 to 1944), a Coptic leader and politician, who gathered pieces from older churches that were being renovated. Cairo's official portals give 1910 as the year it was inaugurated, while Wikipedia gives 1908 for its establishment, so you will see both dates. It passed to the state in 1931.

It covers the part of Egypt's story that sits between the pharaohs and the Islamic city, and it does so with objects that are often beautiful in their own right: painted apses and niches, woven textiles and carved wood.

Look for the ankh-shaped cross in the stone galleries. The ankh was an ancient Egyptian symbol of life, and early Egyptian Christians adopted the form, which is one of the clearest places to see old Egypt carried into the new faith.

The building is part of the experience. Carved wooden mashrabiya screens, a stone courtyard and coloured glass make it a calm stop in the middle of a busy district.

The museum's beginnings were modest. One account says the first pieces were silver gospel covers and church vessels saved from a fire, and that a small room in the Hanging Church was set aside for them in 1908.

As Simaika collected more, the museum grew into its own buildings beside the church. In 1931 it was handed to the state and placed under the Department of Antiquities, and it has been a national museum since.

• Painted apses and niches with Christ enthroned
• Textiles, woodwork and carved stone from Egypt's Christian era
• The ankh-shaped cross, a pharaonic symbol in Christian use
• Coloured stained glass and wooden mashrabiya screens
• A setting beside the Hanging Church in Old Cairo