Cave Church (Monastery of St Simon)

What is the Cave Church?

The Cave Church is a working Coptic Orthodox monastery dedicated to St Simon the Tanner, with several churches cut into or built against the limestone cliffs of the Mokattam hills. It is unlike anything else in Cairo: a vast open amphitheatre of stone tiers under an overhanging rock roof, with the altar at the bottom like a stage, and enormous relief carvings of Bible scenes cut into the cliff faces around it.

The monastery is modern. It grew from the 1970s, when the community below began clearing the hillside for a place to worship, and the great cave church was consecrated in the 1990s. Many of the cliff carvings are the work of a Polish artist known locally as Mario, who spent years on them. For the older churches of Coptic Cairo, see our Coptic Cairo guide; for how it fits a wider Christian itinerary, see Christian sites in Egypt.

Who was St Simon the Tanner?

St Simon (Samaan) the Tanner was a 10th-century Cairo craftsman whose faith, according to Coptic tradition, moved the Mokattam mountain. The story goes that the Fatimid caliph al-Muizz challenged Pope Abraham (Abraam ibn Zaraa) to prove the Gospel saying that faith can move mountains. After three days of prayer and fasting, the pope was led to Simon, a humble tanner, and when they prayed together the mountain shook and rose. Copts still commemorate the miracle, and Simon's relics were rediscovered in Old Cairo in 1991 and brought to the monastery that bears his name.

What will you see at the monastery?

The main sights are the great amphitheatre church of the Virgin Mary and St Simon, the smaller cave chapels, and the carved cliff reliefs.

• The great cave church: rows of stone benches curving down to the altar under a natural rock ceiling; on major occasions it fills completely.
• Smaller churches: including chapels dedicated to St Paul and others, with a more intimate scale.
• The reliefs: large carvings of scenes such as the Nativity, the Resurrection and the moving of the mountain, along the paths linking the churches.
• The views: from the upper terraces you look back across Manshiyat Naser to the Citadel and the minarets of Islamic Cairo.

The monastery is busiest on Thursday evenings and Sundays, when there are well-attended services and, on some evenings, prayer meetings with lively singing. Weekday mornings are quietest for sightseeing.

Who are the Zabbaleen?

The Zabbaleen are a largely Coptic Christian community who have collected, sorted and recycled much of Cairo's household rubbish for generations, and Manshiyat Naser, below the monastery, is their main neighbourhood. Many families came from villages in Upper Egypt, especially around Assiut, from the mid-20th century. Rubbish is brought in by truck and cart, then sorted by hand in ground-floor workshops into plastics, paper, metal and glass for resale. Their recycling rate is widely reported to be far higher than that of most formal waste systems, though figures vary.

Their livelihood has been tested more than once, notably when the government ordered the community's pigs, which ate the organic waste, to be culled in 2009, and when international waste companies were contracted in the 2000s. Outsiders sometimes call the area "Garbage City"; residents generally prefer its real name.

How to visit respectfully

Go with a guide or a driver who knows the area, keep your camera for the monastery rather than people's homes and workshops, and remember that you are passing through a residential community, not a spectacle.

• Ask before photographing anyone. Many residents are understandably tired of tourists taking pictures of them at work.
• Expect rubbish, strong smells and narrow streets on the drive through; vehicle windows usually stay up.
• Dress as for any church: shoulders and knees covered.
• If you want to contribute, the monastery has donation boxes, and community organisations in the area run recycling and craft projects that sell woven and paper goods.
• Do not wander into side lanes on your own.

Getting there and planning your visit

Allow 30–45 minutes by car from downtown or Zamalek and about an hour from Giza, plus 1–1.5 hours at the monastery. The route climbs through Manshiyat Naser to the monastery gate, where cars park. There is no public transport that makes sense for visitors, and ride-hailing drivers often do not know the way, so a private driver is far easier.

The Cave Church pairs well with Coptic Cairo on a Christian heritage day, as on day 3 of our Christian Egypt tour, or with the Citadel, which sits on the same ridge. There is no ticket; the monastery's opening times vary around services, so check before you go.