Vol.I - The Coptic Orthodox Church

278 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vi.
instead of the south-east corner of the main building.
The plan of the Trieste basilica is given in Lenoir's
'
Architecture Monastique,' and may be compared
with that in the text.
The Churches in the Harat-ar-Rum of
Cairo.
In the Harat-ar-Rum or Greek quarter of Cairo
city is a Coptic dair called Dair Tadrus, containing
a nunnery in which twelve nuns reside, and the two
churches ofAl '
Adra, or the Virgin, and Mari Girgis,
or St. George. They are best reached by the narrow
lane branching off from the Sukkariah at the Sibil of
Muhammad 'Ali. The old gate of the quarter may
be seen in its place, though the soil which has risen
about it now prevents it from closing. The churches
are near the end of the lane from which there are two
;
entrances, one by a passage through the ancient patriarchal
residence, where the flat stone roofing near
the doorway is adorned with fine Arab tracery ; the
other from a little by-lane farther on. Some steps
have in either case to be descended, and some dark
places
to be traversed before
7^he Church of A I 'Adra
is reached. The first thing at once that strikes one
is the roof, which consists of twelve domes one over
each of the three eastern chapels, and nine over the
rest of the church in all four rows of three domes
each. Six piers, of which two are within the haikal-
screen, uphold the domes, and are connected by