HISTORIC RELIGIOUS SITE
Mary’s Tree
Matareya · Cairo
- Locality
- Matareya
- Type of place
- HISTORIC RELIGIOUS SITE
- Coordinates
- 30.12057° N, 31.30887° E
- Identity
- Matched to a public listing
A brief history
A walled garden at Matareya, the ancient Heliopolis, keeps a sycamore venerated as the tree under which the Holy Family sheltered. The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities records that the original tree weakened and fell in 1656, and that Franciscan priests gathered its branches and replanted them. The shelter itself is devotional tradition; what is documented is the long history of visits to the spot.
An interesting detail
The medieval historians al-Maqrizi and al-Suyuti both visited, and French soldiers carved their names into the branches with their swords in 1800.