St. Peter and Paul (Cairo)
St. Peter and Paul ( Arabic كنيسة الرسولين بطرس وبولس, DMG Kanīsat ar-Rasūlaini Buṭrus wa-Baulus 'Church of the two apostles Peter and Paul'), mostly al-Butrusiyya for short ( Arabic الكنيسة البطرسية, DMG al-Kanīsa al-Buṭrusiyya ), is a Coptic Orthodox church building in the al-Abbasiyya district of the Egyptian capital Cairo .
history
The church was built by the family of the Egyptian Prime Minister Boutros Ghali , who died in 1910 , over whose grave it is built. The church, built from 1911 in the style of a Romanesque basilica , was consecrated on February 21, 1912. Antonio Lasciac (1856–1946) was responsible for the three-aisled basilica's architect . Boutros Ghali's grandson, United Nations Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali (1922–2016), is also buried here.
On December 11, 2016 was the church a bomb attack perpetrated, died by 28 people. The Islamist militia "Islamic State" claimed to be the perpetrator of the attack . December 16 is the birthday of the Islamic prophet Mohammed ; Muslims celebrate Maulid an-Nabī on this day .
Building the Church
The 28-meter-high and 17-meter-wide building is adjacent to St. Mark's Cathedral , the seat of the Patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church. The church is built in the style of an early Christian basilica with an atrium in front and consists of the church building and two courtyards in the west. In the east courtyard there is a bust of Boutros Ghali in a niche.
The church, made of plastered stone, consists of a main nave, two side aisles, the chancel , a baptistery and two sanctuaries. In addition to the central sanctum in the left aisle there is St. Virgin. A staircase at the end of the central nave leads to the crypt with the granite coffin of Boutros Ghali and the graves of his son Nagib Ghali Pasha and his widow. On the left side of the nave is the marble ambon (pulpit).
Representations in the church
The mosaic above the central apse, made by the mosaic company Angelo Orsoni from Venice , shows in the form of a Deësis representation with Christ as Pantocrator in the middle, the Blessed Virgin Mary on his left and the evangelist Mark on his right.
Above the arches that separate the side aisles from the main nave are wall paintings by the Roman painter Primo Panciroli (1875-1946). On the right side they show St. Matthew, the Annunciation, the birth of Christ, the escape of St. Family to Egypt , the multiplication of bread and fish , the entry into Jerusalem and St. Luke. On the left you can see St. Mark, the last supper, the crucifixion of Christ , his resurrection and ascension, the descent of St. Spirit and St. John.
The walls of the two side aisles carry further wall paintings in two rows each. They show scenes from the life of Christ, saints and church fathers.
literature
- Otto Friedrich August Meinardus : Christian Egypt, ancient and modern . 2nd Edition. American University in Cairo Press, Cairo 1977, ISBN 978-977-201-496-5 , pp. 306-308 .
Web links
- Rheinische Post December 28, 2017: Report on the reconstruction of the building and the situation of Copts in Egypt
Footnotes
Coordinates: 30 ° 4 ′ 18.7 ″ N , 31 ° 16 ′ 30.4 ″ E