Monastery of Saint Simon the Tanner

This is a Coptic monastery named for the 10th century saint and is located in the Zabbaleen community in Cairo. Zabbaleen means garbage collector, and this neighborhood at the base of the Moqattam cliffs is the center for collection and recycling of Cairo's waste. This community is overwhelmingly Coptic, and as that community developed, this monastery was founded as their spiritual heart.
There are 3 churches here, and I'm writing a post for each of them. The pictures here are of the rest of the site, mostly of the beautiful carvings on the cliff walls. I'll leave you to recognize the biblical scenes in the carvings. The only hint I'll give is the 2nd picture, written in Arabic, is exactly what the 2 tablets suggest.Read more