Articles Sightseeing Monastery of the Virgin "Jabal al-Tair"
At the top of Jabal al-Tair, adjacent to the Nile in Minya Governorate, one of the most important shrines of the Holy Family during its journey to Egypt after the Monastery of Muharraq is located, which is the Monastery of the Virgin, as it contains the church in which is the cave in which the Holy Family stayed for three days.
The Church of the Blessed Virgin was established by Queen Helena, mother of Emperor Constantine in 328 AD, who came to Jabal al-Tair in the same year. And when she learned from the people that the Holy Family passed through this area and hid in the cave, I ordered the carving and emptying of the rock surrounding the cave, and called it "The Church of the Virgin Mary."
In its planning, the church adopts a style closer to the basilica, as it consists of a nave with three wings, and a choir in front of the temple, and on its sides are two rooms. The nave contains the archaeological baptismal executed inside the large stone columns, and now in the middle of the Al-Laqan Basin.
It is reported that the mountain was called Jabal al-Tair, due to the migratory Bukers, which used to come annually, to settle at the foot of the mountain, and peck its beak in the crack of the mountain. The monastery is also called the "Bakkara" monastery and the "Al-Kaf" monastery, in honor of the palm of Jesus Christ that was imprinted on the rock.