The Coptic New Year falls on 11 September this year per the Coptic calendar.

The exhibition, placed in the museum's special display hall, highlights the martyr knights of the Coptic era and their depiction in various historical artefacts.

Jihan Atef, Director of the Coptic Museum, explains that the exhibition aims to showcase the significance of martyrs in Coptic Church history as seen through objects such as stone carvings, textiles, icons, and manuscripts. 

The exhibition features a collection of seven notable artefacts, including an icon of Saint George on horseback spearing the devil.

It also includes an icon depicting the crowned martyr Viktor dressed in military attire and poised to strike a dragon-like representation of the devil, which is attributed to the 18th-century artist John the Armenian.

Other prominent pieces on display include a Coptic textile with a central image of a knight surrounded by four smaller medallions, each depicting a saint knight, and a limestone tombstone featuring a knight on horseback, crowned by an angel.

Rare manuscripts
 

Additionally, three rare manuscripts illustrating the importance of martyrs in Coptic history are being featured.

Two of these are from the Hamouli manuscripts, including the testimonies of Saints Isidore and Theodore of the East, both discovered in 1910 near the ruins of the Monastery of the Angel in Hamouli, Fayoum.

The third manuscript is a Synaxarium - a Greek term for the book containing the lives of saints and martyrs which are read in church according to the Coptic calendar.

Rich history
 

The Coptic Museum, the largest home of Coptic artefacts in the world, offers a rich collection that illustrates the development of Coptic art and its interactions with other cultures.

The museum was founded in 1910 in efforts spearheaded by Marcus Pasha Simaika, a prominent Christian figure dedicated to preserving Coptic heritage. It was expanded in 1947 and renovated in 2006.

The museum comprises two wings housing the largest collection of Coptic artefacts which chronicle the history of Christianity in Egypt.

Some of the most notable artefacts include a collection of decorated manuscripts, icons, wooden carvings, and murals with religious images from ancient monasteries and churches. 

These artefacts reflect the influences on Coptic art by successive dominant cultures in Egypt, including Ancient Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman.