Umm Kulthum Museum

Dating back to 861, the Nilometer is a large stone obelisk, now inside a small building, that was used to measure the level of the Nile was measured and therefore the tax rates for the farmers fixed. The Nilometer became obsolete when the Aswan Dam was built. While this may not sound particular specular, the interior of the small building is surprisingly beautiful. It reminds of the endless staircase by graphic artist M.C. Escher and is an archaeological gem, whose stairs you can climb down if acrophobia is not your issue.

Established by the Roman emperor Trajan, at the entrance of the former canal to the Red Sea, it became a fulcrum of the Roman occupation. Not long after the fall of the Empire, some of the very first Coptic landmarks were built upon its foundations.

This church was built in 690, upon two bastions of the Roman fortress. Its nave is suspended over a passageway. Its wooden roof is supposedly shaped like Noah's ark.

One of the oldest churches in Cairo, named for two early Roman martyrs, the interior is remarkable and distinctive. The basilica nave is decorated by 12 columns - 11 white marble and one red granite - and a beautiful iconostasis. It's built over a cavern where, supposedly, the holy family of Mary and Joseph reared the infant Jesus after their flight from Herod into Egypt. The cavern is usually accessible but has sometimes been flooded by groundwater. St Bacchus saint-day and the flight into Egypt are celebrated annually here on 1 June.

Established in 1908 and restored in 2015 to a high standard, the museum houses Coptic art and artifacts from Late Antiquity, from the late Roman empire through to the Islamic era and beyond. The presentation is clear in English, French and Arabic with generally well thought-out lighting. The display of mainly stone architectural fragments on the ground floor shows the development of the early fusion between Christian and Egyptian symbolism. They also demonstrate that the early Christian era was much cruder in its use of stone than its Pharaonic ancestors. Several frescoes from the early monasteries are displayed. The tapestries and embroideries on the second floor illustrate more homely but highly developed arts. The building itself is a treat, with elaborate wooden screens called mashrabiyya on the windows and ornately carved wooden arabesque ceilings.

Egypt's oldest surviving synagogue, dating to the 9th century and housed in the shell of a 4th-century church; restored in the 12th century and continually through to the 20th century. Charming interior but it's most famed for the Geniza Documents, discovered in the basement in 1890. Religious teaching was that old documents may not be discarded or destroyed if they contain the name of God, but reverentially buried. "Geniza" means storeroom and here lay a fabulous archive from the 11th to 13th century, some written by Maimonides, who lived nearby. Cairo's 80,000 Jewish population of a century ago has dwindled to a handful, so Ben Ezra is no longer in use as a synagogue. That means it remains open to visit on Fridays and Saturdays.