Study Journey to Egypt
An outline of the study trip to Egypt taken by the students of Ratisbonne
Rising early in the morning, the school of Ratisbonne was on the road before daybreak. The trip to Egypt was almost flawless except for forgetting two Salesians back in Jerusalem after having already driven three hours. They were able to catch up with the kind assistance of one of the Salesian priests who drove them to the location of the group. This afforded the group time to celebrate a Mass with a prepatory homily by school Principal Fr. Roberto Spataro.
TAfter crossing the border, we met our tour director for the week. He was a very well prepared Coptic Christian. Many were in amazement at the stark character of the Sinai desert. The amazement was heighted as we passed under the Suez Canal. Amid the entire desert, large ships were passing on the water above.
As we entered Cairo for the first night, the tour director pointed out to us some of the major sites. One of the most interesting was the mountain across Saladin’s citadel, which St. Simon the Shoemaker miraculously moved in the 10th century after being challenged by the local Muslim leader.
This day the community celebrated Mass together at the nearby Franciscan Church of St. Joseph.
Afterwards was the firs official visit of the study trip to the ancient city of Memphis. It was pointed out that in ancient times Memphis was located on the eastern shore of the Nile. I say that it was located on the eastern shore, because over the years the flow of the Nile has been diverted for different purposes. Most of the buildings are no longer extant because they were made of soft stone material. These facts are significant because for the Egyptians the east symbolized life, as the sun rises in the east. However they believed that this world is not the most important one – so residences were built without concern for their permanence, therefore soft stone materials. Here we visited the museum of Ramses II with his very large statue.
However, on the west of the Nile, the symbol of the closing of life, were built the permanent monuments of death in hope of resurrection – the pyramids. The two sites we visited were Saqqara and Giza.
Saqqara has the oldest pyramids in Egypt. It can be seen from their shape that they were not yet at the perfect pyramid shape that we find in Giza. They were rather the prototypes. And yet, their exterior is deceptively simple. One of these pyramids, with almost no exterior form contains beautiful hieroglyphs carvings inside, something which even the pyramids of Giza are lacking.
But for sheer grandeur and perfection the pyramids of Giza are without compare.
A visit to the Sphinx was the next item on the agenda. The Sphinx as we see it today originally had the typical Egyptian fake beard as a sign of leadership. It is a legend that Napoleon shot it off after finding it unappealing – in fact the beard was already removed by the early 19th century when Napoleon arrived in Egypt.
Next there were several places of significance visited in the Christian quarter of Cairo. The Coptic museum detailed the events of Christians in Egypt over the centuries. An important part of the collection includes samples of the unique Coptic iconography.
The Hanging Church is one that was built into the side of a large rock, with no foundation in the 5th century.
The Ben Ezra Synagogue marks the spot where Moses would come to pray, and also in the 20th century was found in it some of the most ancient manuscripts of the Torah.
The Holy Family Church marks one of the locations that Mary and Joseph rested in while in Egypt.
The next major site was back in the larger city of Cairo with the Citadel of Saladin and the 19th century Mosque of Muhammad Ali. The crusaders never arrived in Cairo, but had they, they would have found the Citadel quite a challenge to defeat, and it is a striking construction. The Mosque of Muhammad Ali is located within the wall of the citadel and its exterior, courtyard and interior are all quite breathtaking.