Much of the Coptic heritage now displayed in the Coptic Museum did not survive by accident, but by the tireless efforts of one Copt born on this day in 1864, Marcus Simaika.
On this day, the 28th February, in 1864, Simaika was born into one of the most notable and respected Coptic families in Cairo. Educated in St Mark’s Coptic Patriarchal school in Cairo he was against the wishes of his father who wished for him to become a Priest, studied Arabic, Coptic, Greek, and English, alongside his ecclesiastical studies, and later studied French.
Simaika worked in the Egyptian railways system, starting as a translator for accounting and working his way up until he became the Director General, becoming the only Egyptian to reach such high rank. After which, from 1907-1922, Simaika was a member of the Legislative Council of the Khedivate of Egypt, joining various committees and became the President of the ‘Comite de Conservation des Monuments Arabes et Coptes’.
At the age of 25, Simaika also became the youngest ever member to be elected to the church’s Maglis el Milli, in 1889. He became a key reformist figure arguing the Maglis should have more say in the management of Coptic schools, awqafs, and personal status laws. After the 1890 crisis where Prime Minister Mostafa Fahmy Pasha exiled Pope Cyril V after his refusal to recognise the Maglis, Simaika was one of only two Maglis representatives who refused to sign the petition. The other member who redused was Hanna Pasha Nasrallah, who was a member of the High Court of Appeals. Simaika would go on to write in his journal that he regretted this decision:
“Young and inexperienced as I was, I stubbornly refused to sign the petition, saying that it was against my convictions. Disregarding the Pasha’s remonstrances and my colleagues’ entreaties, I retired to my house, which was situated 200 yards from Boutros Pasha’s house.”
Magar Pasha Abd al-Shahid visited Simaika in his home and persuaded him to go and apologise for his insubordination to Boutros Pasha but still refused to sign.
Yet when elections came for the Maglis after the brief stint of the unpopular Maglis replacement of four noble appointments was dissolved, Simaika was re-elected again in 1905 and in 1908 elected as Vice President,
As time went on, in 1907, Simaika began to dream of a Coptic Museum, as he worked in the repair and restoration of ancient Coptic Churches. Knowing he would need the blessing of Pope Cyril V, made peace with the Pope and was given permission to build the Museum.
In 1908, Simaika had found that a silversmith was weighing out old silver Gospel covers and church vessels to be melted for repurposing. In his expertise he realised the silver was from the 14th and 15th centuries. Offering to pay for the objects, a huge cost of LE180, to entrust them into the care of the Church priests, and the objects would be stored in one room in the Al-Muallah (Hanging Church) in old Cairo.
Simaika then spent his days, with Pope Cyril V’s authority, travelling to Coptic Churches and desert monasteries to look for objects to be added to the growing museum. In his journal, Simaika wrote:
“Largely through travelling with the permission of the Patriarch on a tour of inspection of all churches and monasteries throughout the country from Rosetta to Khartoum rummaging in basements and searching lumber rooms, I gradually put together the objects which now form the collections in the Coptic Museum.”
Simaika’s work was tireless and he persistently searched for Coptic antiquities, but also did essential work in indexing Coptic libraries, cataloguing Coptic history and tirelessly travelling across Egypt and even searching Europe to find and document Coptic history. He wrote in his diary:
“Whenever I heard of some object worthy of being added to our collection, I began my attack. I never despaired if refused once, and I was sure to call for the piece again and again until the possessor became tired of my visits and finally gave it away to get rid of my importunities.”
To save costs Simaika himself would travel and search old Coptic houses across Cairo for woodwork, marble, doors, latticework and fountains to construct the growing museum.
Simaika was a revolutionary thinker in protecting Coptic heritage and history, years before other leading heritage-workers had realised at the time. For example, in a trip to Oxford in 1890, Simaika was staying at Alfred Butler’s home, and when talking to the architect of St Paul’s Cathedral in London, he told Butler and Somers Clarke how wrong it was even for well-meaning benefactors to replace ancient Coptic architecture with new modern foreign designs.
Another example, in his diary he wrote:
“As the Church of the Archangel Michael contained very fine sanctuary screens of beautifully carved woodwork which were destroyed, I felt deeply shocked and remonstrated against this with the Patriarch and Butros Pasha and begged them to save that church. But unfortunately they both took no interest in archaeology, and thought that it was certainly to the advantage of the community to acquire better ventilated buildings instead of the dark ancient ones. I argued that all this could be obtained by erecting the new churches near the ancient ones leaving these in peace to be maintained as public monuments.”
Thanks to his tireless work and vision, the Coptic Museum opened in 1910, and was even visited by the American President Theodore Roosevelt and other Royal dignitaries such as the Swedish Crown Prince. In 1930-1 at the request of King Fuad I, but much to the reluctance of the Coptic Church, the Coptic Museum was made a state institution, where Simaika was appointed Director for life.
Simaika passed away on the 2nd October 1944 in Alexandria, but due to the outbreak of World War II, he died heartbroken as his prevcious antiquities were packed and moved, and he died before they were returned. However, a few years after his death a new wing of the Coptic Museum was opened with his bust which can still be seen today.
