Cave Church of Saint Simon the Tanner — Mokattam, Cairo
Built by the Zabbaleen community in a cave in the Mokattam cliffs · Cairo
Photo: Ehab ahmed mohammed / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0), the photo used in the World Art Utopia post. Full photograph shown.
The Monastery of Saint Simon the Tanner uses a pre-existing cave in Cairo’s Mokattam cliffs as a vast church, with tiers of seats facing a central pulpit. It was built by the Zabbaleen, the largely Coptic Christian community of garbage collectors who live below the cliffs. Source Source Source Checked
Standing Apr 2026 — On April 5, 2026, Youm7 reported that tens of thousands of Copts filled the great church inside the mountain for Palm Sunday prayers. Source Checked
💡 4 things to know
- Built by Cairo’s garbage collectorsAround 1969, Cairo’s governor moved the city’s garbage collectors into one settlement at the foot of the Mokattam cliffs, and this mostly Coptic community went on to build the church. Source Source Checked
- From tin and reeds to a caveThe village’s first church, built in 1975, was made of tin and reeds and later destroyed by fire; afterward, work began on a monastery inside the cliffside, which Egypt Today dates to 1976. Source Source Source Checked
- A million tons of rockAccording to Youm7, cleaning and enlarging the cave took about 10 years and removed some 1 million tons of rock and debris. Source Reported
- 20,000 or 30,000 seats?Atlas Obscura, Aleteia and Egypt Today put its capacity at 20,000 people, while Youm7 (April 2026) says it holds about 30,000. Source Source Source Source Conflicting
📍 Where it is
The church sits inside the Mokattam hill in southeastern Cairo, above the Zabbaleen settlement at the foot of the cliffs. Source Source Checked
Opens a map at these coordinates.
🗓️ Sightings
- 1976
Work on the cave monastery begins
- 20013 Sep
Rock ceiling above the seats
- 201528 Jan
Seats facing the cave mouth
- 20265 Apr
Filled for Palm Sunday prayers
Green stamps mark dated photographs; amber stamps mark records or reports; red stamps mark loss. Publication dates are not camera dates.
✅ The facts
- Built by
- The Zabbaleen, Cairo’s largely Coptic garbage-collecting community Source Source Source Checked
- Capacity
- 20,000 (Atlas Obscura, Aleteia, Egypt Today) or about 30,000 (Youm7) Source Source Source Source Conflicting
🔗 Related
All sources & image credits
- Youm7 — معلومات عن الكنيسة الكبرى بدير سمعان الخراز بعد استقبالها الأقباط فى أحد الزعف (Mohamed El-Ahmady) — 2026-04-05
- Slate / Atlas Obscura — The Cave Church of Garbage City (Eric Grundhauser) — 2015-02-10
- Aleteia — Built by Coptic garbage collectors, the Church of Saint Simon is the largest in the Middle East (Daniel Esparza) — 2019-11-01
- Egypt Today — Saint Simon Monastery: A Deeper Look Into Egypt’s Massive Cave — 2020-12-21
- Wikimedia Commons — File:Samaan monastery.jpg (Ehab ahmed mohammed, CC BY-SA 4.0), camera date — 2015-01-28
- Wikimedia Commons — File:CairoMuqattamRockChurch.jpg (Roland Unger, CC BY-SA 3.0), camera date — 2001-09-03
- Hero image: Ehab ahmed mohammed / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0), the photo used in the World Art Utopia post; the 16:9 share image is made from it.
Last checked: November 13, 2026 · How we verify art
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