The Religion Compound is one of the most picturesque and charming areas in the whole of Cairo. It consists of a small area built around the remains of the old Roman fortress of Babylon on the Nile, and contains pretty much all of the tourist sights of Old Cairo (also known as Coptic Cairo, and Fustat).
Also includes a fortress of Babylon, who founded the museum in 1910 by Mark thick Pasha, to the importance of a place of expanding to include groups of relics of the Christian era that is stored in a hall near the Hanging Church, and to facilitate the study of the history of Christianity in Egypt.
And complete the complex religious effects the three monotheistic religions there synagogue, which was originally a temple, then turned to the church until the reign of Ahmad ibn-Tulun, and returned again a temple after he bought the Jewish community and its leader at that time Abraham Ben Ezra, and this is called the temple is also the Temple of Ben Ezra.
The Religion Compound is littered with monuments from all three of the main monotheistic religions, as well as the Coptic Museum and the Coptic Cemetery. Some of the more famous churches here include the Greek Church of St George(one of the few round churches still in existence in the region) and the Hanging Church (with its famous suspended nave). The Amr Ibn el-Aas Mosque is located just north of the compound, and was the first mosque ever built in Egypt (although it has been destroyed and rebuilt numerous times).
The oldest mosque in Africa
This is the first and oldest mosque ever built on the land of Egypt. Erected in 642 AD (21 AH) by Amr Ibn al’As, the commander of the Muslim army that conquered Egypt, the mosque is also known as Taj al-Jawamie (Crown of Mosques, al-Jamie’al-Ateeq (the Ancient Mosque) and Masjid Ahl ar-Rayah (Mosque of Banner Holders).
It still retains significant Greek and Roman style architectural features, with each of its 150 columns unique and different from the other. Though it has gone through renovations throughout the centuries, the mosque is one of the leading religious sights in Egypt and open to all visitors.
The Coptic monuments
Babylon Fortress was an ancient fortress city or castle in the Delta of Egypt, located at Babylon in the area today known as Coptic Cairo. It was at the boundary between Lower and Middle Egypt, where the river craft paid tolls when ascending or descending the Nile. Diodorus ascribes the erection of the first fort to rebel Assyrian captives in the reign of Sesostris, and Ctesias (Persica) dates it to the time of Semiramis; but Josephus, with greater probability, attributes its structure to some Babylonian followers of Cambyses, in 525 BC. The Romans built a new fortress with typically Roman red and white banded masonry nearer to the river.
Within the fortress’ enclosure are the Coptic Museum, a convent, and several churches, including the Church of St. George and the Hanging Church.
In addition, Egypt having a number of tourist places that attract visitors from all over the world, and even from Egypt itself, known as domestic tourism.
