The nineteenth-century facade with twin bell towers is then seen beyond a narrow courtyard decorated with modern art biblical designs.

However, the earliest mention of the church was a statement in the biography of the patriarch Joseph I (831–849), when the governor of Egypt visited the establishment.

A set of 10 wooden panels from a door at the church that were engraved with Christian iconography in 1300 AD can be found in the British Museum.

Some date its origin to the nineteenth century B.C, after Pharaoh Sesostris defeated the Babylonians and took the prisoners of Egypt as slaves.

Carved reliefs, believed to belong to the earlier structure, closely resemble those found in the first Syrian churches, which can be dated to the third or fourth century.

In 840 AD, governor Ali ibn Yahia the Armenian partially destroyed the church during a conflict with the patriarch Anba Yusab.

[8] She is said to have appeared in a dream to Pope Abraham in the 970s in the story of how the Mokattam Mountain was moved by the faith of Simon the Tanner.

The Hanging Church is dedicated to the Virgin Mary and contains sanctuaries to her and Saints John the Baptist and George.

[6] These processes are held at the Hanging Church due to the movement in the 11th century of the patriarchal seat to Cairo from Alexandria.

[10] Of the three ancient altars typical of Coptic churches, none remained by the 19th century and were instead replaced by marble slabs.

[10] Mosaics in crosses in relief are found within an ambo located north of the principal church's central nave.