Holy Icons

The Hanging Church has 110 icons, the oldest of which dates back to the 8th Century, but most of them date to the 18th Century. Nakhla Al-Baraty Bey gave some of them as gifts, in 1898, when he was the overseer of the church.^[3] The iconostasis of the central sanctuary is made of ebony inlaid with ivory, and is surmounted by icons of the Virgin Mary and the Twelve Apostles. The main altar (Egyptian Arabic: haikal) screen is made of ebony inlaid with ivory that is carved into segments showing several Coptic Cross designs that date back to around the 12th or 13th century. Over the altar screen lies a long row of seven large icons, the central one of which is Christ seated on the Throne. On one side, the icons of the Virgin Mary, Archangel Gabriel and St Peter are lined up. On the other, icons of St. John the Baptist, Archangel Michael and St. Paul