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Cairo is so much more than its iconic Pyramids. 👉🏻 I wandered through Old Cairo — into the heart of a neighborhood where churches and mosques stand side by side with a synagogue, each corner revealing a different thread of the city’s long story. 👉🏻 I began at the Mosque of Amr ibn al‑As, founded in 641–642 CE in what was then Fustat, making it the first mosque built in Egypt and Africa. It occupies the very spot where Amr ibn al-As pitched his tent during the Arab conquest so the mosque sits at the birth of Egypt’s Islamic era, both spiritually and urbanly. 👉🏻 Next I made my way into the 3rd-century Hanging Church of the Virgin Mary. Built above the gate-house of the old Roman fortress of Babylon, you ascend 29 steps to reach it — giving the church its “hanging” sense. Inside, I was struck by the ceiling shaped like Noah’s Ark, the fusion of Coptic, Roman and Byzantine design, and the collection of icons (110 in total) that line its walls. Among them, the most iconic is the “Coptic Mona Lisa” — a painting of the Virgin Mary with the Christ Child and John the Baptist, reportedly dating back to the 8th century. 👉🏻 From there I moved into the realm of manuscripts and fine art at the Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo (established 1881; sitting in its neo-Mamluk building since 1903). Its holdings span from the 7th-century Umayyad period right through to the Ottoman era. I found myself staring at one of the world’s oldest surviving Qur’ans — and realised how book-culture is woven into Cairo’s identity. 👉🏻 Lastly I visited the papyrus museum (the Egyptian Papyrus Museum) where I learned how ancient Egyptians extracted and processed papyrus stalks, laid them into sheets, sun-dried them, and then hand-painted scenes of gods, pharaohs, daily life. Between sacred sites, fine art and book-laden streets (where you can lose yourself in historic print, Arabic literature and ancient texts), Cairo unfolded in layers I had never expected. And yet the more I see, the more I realise — I’ve only just begun to explore it. #experienceegypt #cairostreetstyle #cairoegypt #travelwithkrazybutterfly #visitcairo #oldcairo

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This post was published on 06th November, 2025 by Veidehi on her Instagram handle "@Thekrazybutterfly (Veidehi Gite)". Veidehi has total 838.0K followers on Instagram and has a total of 1.7K post.This post has received 4.0K Likes which are greater than the average likes that Veidehi gets. Veidehi receives an average engagement rate of 0.33% per post on Instagram. This post has received 246 comments which are greater than the average comments that Veidehi gets. Overall the engagement rate for this post was lower than the average for the profile. #travelwithkrazybutterfly #cairostreetstyle #cairoegypt #experienceegypt #visitcairo #oldcairo has been used frequently in this Post.