Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 29.djvu/161

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ATEEKAH, OR OLD CAIRO, AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD.
131

Egyptian dwelling-house, with elegant wood carvings displaying the Cross introduced amidst foliage.

Church of Abou Sirgeh, with the subterraneous Chapel of Sitt Miriam.—This large, fine, and lofty church is almost the only one visited by travellers. The pillars which separate the nave and aisles are carried round the western end and support galleries. The clerestories on either side rest on four pillars set in bays or compartments of two each. The pulpit in the principal aisle is of fine early woodwork. The principal screen is a magnificent specimen of carved wood and ivory, and to the left of it are some fine panels sculptured with figures of S. George, various saints, and Scriptural subjects. These carvings, although curious, are far less interesting than the door-leaves in the Moallaka. Mari Girgis (S. George) it should be remarked is the Patron Saint of the Copts. In front of the Iconostasis[1] two narrow staircases descend to a small three-aisled subterraneous chapel, with plastered walls, apparently of great antiquity. Two pillars on each side separate the centre from the side aisles. In the eastern wall of the centre aisle is a deep cavity or niche, with a slab at the bottom adorned with a sculptured cross, and with the sides and roof carefully finished in hewn stone. At the end of the southern aisle is a font embedded like a copper in stone masonry, and used for the Baptism of small children. In the side walls of each of the side aisles respectively there is another niche, at the bottom of each of which is a sculptured cross. Tradition has it that at the time of the Flight into Egypt the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Holy Child rested in one cavity and S. Joseph in the other.

Leaving this interesting crypt-chapel, I return again to the main Church. Behind the principal altar there is a fine flight of seven lofty steps of white and coloured marbles, the wall of the apse being faced with exquisite mosaics of that rare and peculiar description wherein the various coloured marbles are intermixed with blue opaque glass and mother o' pearl.

This mixture of shell, glass, and marble is, so far as I know, peculiar to Egypt[2], and even there exists only in this and a

  1. ↑ In this paper, for convenience sake, I have throughout adopted this term to express the screen immediately in front of the altar.
  2. ↑ Mr. A. Nesbitt kindly informs me that this mixture is found also "in S. Vitale, Ravenna; and more largely in the Cathedral of Parenzo in Istria."
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