Egypt

Egypt fire damages church of 'Jesus footprint'

Yahoo! News (via AFP)

An historic church in the Nile Delta where Jesus and his family are believed to have stopped during their flight to Egypt, leaving an imprint of Christ's foot, has been damaged by fire, a security official has said.

The fire at the Sanctuary of the Church of the Virgin Mary in Sakha, just outside Kafr el-Sheikh, north of Cairo, destroyed the altar and an historic icon and caused some structural damage.

The local governor blamed the fire on an electrical fault, the official said, with a security cordon placed around the church amid Christian-Muslim tensions following recent unrest between the two communities.

There's an article about the churches usually listed in connection with the flight to Egypt on the State Information Service website. A photograph of the foot print is also available on a page on the Egypt SIS website.

- Fire In Siwa Caused By Smugglers, But Archaeology Safe
Ahram Online A fire that destroyed over 1700 hectares of farmland in the Siwa Oasis on Tuesday was started deliberately by border smuggling gangs, a local tribal leader has claimed. The attacks were in revenge for requests by local leaders for border...

- Egypt's Coptic Museum
Al Masry Al Youm One that I would really love to visit! The Coptic Museum in Cairo has more to offer its visitors than is generally thought. Still, only a small group of Egyptian school children and Coptic families, who visit the museum after church service,...

- Revisiting Coptic Cairo
Egyptian Gazette (Navigate to Tourism section to find the story, which will expire in the next few days) Old Cairo (Masr al-Qadima in Arabic) describes the area that grew up around the Roman fortress of Babylon, built in the time of Augustus after his...

- Book Review: The Churches Of Egypt
Al Ahram Weekly The Churches of Egypt -- From the Journey of the Holy Family to the Present Day, by Gawdat Gabra and Gertrud J.M. van Loon, edited by Carolyn Ludwig with photographs by Sherif Sonbol Review by Jill Kamil (herself the author of Christianity...

- Travel: Fire On Nile Cruise Ship
International Herald Tribune Five Egyptians were killed and two wounded when a fire broke out on a Nile cruise ship moored near the ancient Egyptian ruins of Luxor late on Sunday, forcing the evacuation of 43 French tourists, said security officials....

Egypt