الفهرس 
COVEROnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
 |  | from | 404 |  |  |
| | | from | 404 | | |
Abstract
Historical back ground about Old Cairo
Babylon is located on the east bank of the Nile and it is the oldest part of
Cairo city. When the Romans conquered Egypt in 30 B.c. They erected the fortifications in the form of towers or bastion connected together by huge walls. Some of pharaonic stones were used in building this fortress.’
During Arab conquest the new city of Fustat was erected on the north of
Babylon fortress around the mosque Amr ibn Alas.’
The Arabic called the fortress ”Qasr al-Shama” which means the fort of
candles because the Persians used the candles to light its towers.’ The
fortress of Babylon was used as the quarry till the end of the nineteenth
century. It is considered one of the beautiful structures preserved from the
Roman period.
The region of Fustat exposed to the fire in 1168 A.M., the earthquakes,
low Nile levels, plague and famine in the second half of the eleventh century which lead to the social confusion and disuse the Fustat. The fire did not affect the fortress and some churches became in safe. Unfortunately, the fire reached the church of Saint Mercurius. Later on, it
restored and reopened in 1175 A.M. Because of the destruction of the
area around the fortress, it became rubbish and wasteland.
Most of the churches of the fortress of Babylon were established on a
basilican plan: a nave side aisles, apse and side chambers and the whole
building covered by a wooden roof. After some of the renovation, there
are some additions added to the plan changed the elements. Some of the
churches in the fortress were restored between the end of the ninth and
the middle of the eleventh century.
In the eighteenth century the wealthy christians took a permission for
building and restoring some of the churches such as the church of Virgin
Mary (AI-Damshiriya) which restored by a famed Copt from Damshir.