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Egypt’s Coptic Museum Celebrates Christmas with Special Exhibition

Rare exhibits at the Coptic museum (The Coptic Museum in Cairo).
Rare exhibits at the Coptic museum (The Coptic Museum in Cairo).
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Egypt’s Coptic Museum Celebrates Christmas with Special Exhibition

Rare exhibits at the Coptic museum (The Coptic Museum in Cairo).
Rare exhibits at the Coptic museum (The Coptic Museum in Cairo).

Under the theme "A Marvelous Christmas Tale," the Coptic Museum, in Cairo, organizes an exhibition that showcases 13 unique artifacts from its collection, including manuscripts, icons and rare Coptic art pieces.

The one-month exhibition displays metal, textile and wooden antiquities, highlighting rare and diverse Nativity scenes, the Coptic Museum’s Director-General Gihan Atef said.

Among the exhibits are an icon depicting the Annunciation of the Angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary at the birth of Jesus Christ, a manuscript of the Four Gospels in Arabic and a bronze censer decorated with scenes representing various events from the life of Jesus Christ, including the scenes of the Annunciation and the Nativity. Additionally, there is a manuscript of the Synaxarium in Arabic, illustrating the days of fasting and feasts, with prayers read in church; it also contains the commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christ on the 29th of Kiahk.

The exhibition features a rare icon depicting various scenes from the life of Saint Nicholas, known as Santa Claus, according to s statement from the exhibition.

Atef Awad, professor of architecture and Coptic studies at the Franciscan Centre for Oriental Studies, sees that selecting these exhibits is really convenient in the time of Christmas. “The Coptic art is an ancient art and an extension of the arts of Ancient Egypt. It’s found abundantly in textiles and can also be seen in carved woodworks, such as one that depicts the entrance of Jesus Christ to Jerusalem on a donkey,” he told “Asharq Al-Awsat.” Awad said the “Annunciation icon is of a great value.”

The Coptic Museum was founded by Marcus Simaika Pasha, in 1910, to support the studies on the history of Christianity in Egypt. It is located inside the Hanging Church, in the Babylon Fortress, in Old Cairo.

Stretching over an area of 8,000 meters, the museum was reopened with the Hanged Church in 1998. It includes around 16,000 pieces distributed on 12 divisions and assorted chronologically.

The Coptic studies professor spoke about other collectibles in the museum, including “the museum’s logo, the joined crescent and cross, as well as Papal crowns and metallic shiny glasses that were widely used in the Fatimid era.” Awad also mentioned other icons linked to the Egyptian history, including The Key of Life, which represents Jesus Christ in the Christian and Coptic arts.

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Nearby Sculptor Galaxy Revealed in Ultra-Detailed Galactic Image

This undated handout image released by European Southern Observatory on June 17, 2025 shows a detailed, thousand-color image of the Sculptor Galaxy captured with the MUSE instrument at ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT). (Handout / European Southern Observatory / AFP)
This undated handout image released by European Southern Observatory on June 17, 2025 shows a detailed, thousand-color image of the Sculptor Galaxy captured with the MUSE instrument at ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT). (Handout / European Southern Observatory / AFP)
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Nearby Sculptor Galaxy Revealed in Ultra-Detailed Galactic Image

This undated handout image released by European Southern Observatory on June 17, 2025 shows a detailed, thousand-color image of the Sculptor Galaxy captured with the MUSE instrument at ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT). (Handout / European Southern Observatory / AFP)
This undated handout image released by European Southern Observatory on June 17, 2025 shows a detailed, thousand-color image of the Sculptor Galaxy captured with the MUSE instrument at ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT). (Handout / European Southern Observatory / AFP)

The Sculptor galaxy is similar in many respects to our Milky Way. It is about the same size and mass, with a similar spiral structure. But while it is impossible to get a full view of the Milky Way from the vantage point of Earth because we are inside the galaxy, Sculptor is perfectly positioned for a good look.

Astronomers have done just that, releasing an ultra-detailed image of the Sculptor galaxy on Wednesday obtained with 50 hours of observations using one of the world's biggest telescopes, the European Southern Observatory's Chile-based Very Large Telescope.

The image shows Sculptor, also called NGC 253, in around 4,000 different colors, each corresponding to a specific wavelength in the optical spectrum.

Because various galactic components emit light differently across the spectrum, the observations are providing information at unprecedented detail on the inner workings of an entire galaxy, from star formation to the motion of interstellar gas on large scales. Conventional images in astronomy offer only a handful of colors, providing less information.

The researchers used the telescope's Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer, or MUSE, instrument.

"NGC 253 is close enough that we can observe it in remarkable detail with MUSE, yet far enough that we can still see the entire galaxy in a single field of view," said astronomer Enrico Congiu, a fellow at the European Southern Observatory in Santiago, and lead author of research being published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

"In the Milky Way, we can achieve extremely high resolution, but we lack a global view since we're inside it. For more distant galaxies, we can get a global view, but not the fine detail. That's why NGC 253 is such a perfect target: it acts as a bridge between the ultra-detailed studies of the Milky Way and the large-scale studies of more distant galaxies. It gives us a rare opportunity to connect the small-scale physics with the big-picture view," Congiu said.

Sculptor is about 11 million light-years from Earth, making it one of the closest big galaxies to the Milky Way. A light-year is the distance light travels in a year, 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km).

Like the Milky Way, it is a barred spiral galaxy, meaning it has an elongated structure extending from its nucleus, with spiral arms extending from the ends of the bar. Its diameter of about 88,000 light-years is similar to the Milky Way's, as is its total mass. One major difference is Sculptor's rate of new star formation, estimated to be two to three times greater than that of the Milky Way.

Nearly 30% of this star formation is happening near the galaxy's nucleus in what is called a starburst region, as revealed in colorful emissions shown in the new image.

The observations have given information on a wide range of properties such as the motion, age and chemical composition of stars and the movement of interstellar gas, an important component of any galaxy.

"Since the light from stars is typically bluer if the stars are young or redder if the stars are old, having thousands of colors lets us learn a lot about what stars and populations of stars exist in the galaxy," said astronomer Kathryn Kreckel of Heidelberg University in Germany, a study co-author.

"Similarly for the gas, it glows in specific bright emission lines at very specific colors, and tells us about the different elements that exist in the gas, and what is causing it to glow," Kreckel said.

The initial research being published from the observations involves planetary nebulae, which are luminous clouds of gas and dust expelled by certain dying stars. Despite their name, they have nothing to do with planets. These nebulae can help astronomers measure the precise distances of faraway galaxies.

The researchers marveled at the scientific and aesthetic value of the new view of Sculptor.

"I personally find these images amazing," Congiu said. "What amazes me the most is that every time I look at them, I notice something new - another nebula, a splash of unexpected color or some subtle structure that hints at the incredible physics behind it all."