The Coptic Museum in Old Cairo houses the world's finest collection of Coptic Christian art — textiles, ivory carvings, icons, manuscripts, and architectural elements spanning from the 1st century CE to the medieval period. It occupies a complex of historic buildings within the walls of the Roman fortress of Babylon, adjacent to the ancient churches it was built to serve.
The collection's depth is extraordinary: early Gnostic manuscripts, including texts from the Nag Hammadi Library; elaborately carved wooden screens from medieval churches; textiles showing the transition from pharaonic to Christian imagery; and a magnificent collection of Coptic icons. The building itself, with its mashrabiyya screens and courtyard gardens, is architecturally lovely. Allow 90 minutes.