The ancient churches in the city of Madi in Fayoum

Abstract

The houses of worship have played an important role in the lives of peoples from early periods in history until the present time. They were among the most facilities that received clear attention, whether in their plans, architecture or decorations, and among those religious installations were churches, but churches as places of worship did not know with the emergence of Christianity, but rather It became known after the recognition of the Christian religion, that is, after about four centuries, as a result of the persecution of Christians by the Romans, as Christians in that early period used to perform their prayers and rituals in secret and out of sight in cemeteries and underground vaults (Syndicus, 1962, p.39), as well as in Temples, but with the recognition of Christianity as the official state religion in 392 AD (Schaff, 1891, p.67), Christians began to establish churches as places of worship based on some well-known plans in ancient architecture, as is the case with the layout of the Roman basilicas that Christians borrowed in the planning of their churches Which was known in the basilica style (Grabar, 1967, 311), and Egypt was one of the first areas in which churches were established, and the Coptic Church is considered one of the oldest churches as it dates back to the era of the first apostles, despite the lack of Physical evidence that you refer to that date (Shiha, 1977, p. 13). But when Egypt followed the Byzantine Church, some Byzantine elements were added to the church, such as domes and columns.