El Matareya, Cairo

The name, El Matareya, is thought to come from the Latin word Mater which means 'mother', and is from the presence of the 'tree of the Virgin Mary' in this district.{{cn|date=June 2025}}

{{main|Heliopolis (Ancient Egypt)}}

El Matareya, with the nearby Ain Shams district, had a notable history during Egypt's Pharaonic period as a part of ancient Heliopolis. The district has archaeological sites of the period, some only recently discovered, beneath its current structures.[http://www.egiptomania.com/asade/novedades/descubrimientos4.htm Descubrimientos - Egipto - Junio / Diciembre 2004; "Pharonic tomb uncovered in Cairo, suburbs of Matareya"]; August 26, 2004 . accessed 1.28.2011 In ancient Roman times Heliopolis belonged to the Augustamnica province. Legend tells of the Christian Holy Family sheltering under a tree in Heliopolis, presently known as 'the tree of the Virgin Mary',{{Cite web|url=http://www.st-mary-mons.org/english/holy_family_in_egypt.htm|title=Holy Family in Egypt|date=2002-03-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020324084755/http://www.st-mary-mons.org/english/holy_family_in_egypt.htm|access-date=2018-02-26|archive-date=2002-03-24}} now with the Chapel of the Virgin in El Matareya.{{cite web|url=http://www.planetware.com/egypt/el-matariya-egy-cai-elm.htm|title=15 Top Tourist Attractions in Cairo & Easy Day Trips - PlanetWare}}

The French naturalist Pierre Belon du Mans mentions visiting El Matareya in his 1547 journey to Egypt.[http://www.artsvie.asso.fr/pdf/conferences/PlusHIVER2002conf.pdf Culture musulmane en Égypte (Suite)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080912181726/http://www.artsvie.asso.fr/pdf/conferences/PlusHIVER2002conf.pdf |date=2008-09-12 }} Page 6. {{in lang|fr}} El Matareya once had the villas of prominent people. The famous Egyptian poet Ahmed Shawqi lived in a villa he named ‘Karmet Ibn Hani’ or Ibn Hani's Vineyard (كرمة ابن هانى) here, near the palace of the Khedive Abbas II at Saray El-Qobba, until his exile from Egypt at World War I.

"My Father Shawky" by Hussin Ahmed Shawky; 2nd edition, 2006 Cairo; (in Arabic)

Image:Masalla Matarayyiah 2.jpg, in El Matareya.]]

The El Masalla area of the district contains the ancient Masalla Obelisk, or Misalla ({{langx|ar|المسلة}}, trans. obelisk), one of the Pharaonic era obelisks that still remain in Egypt.{{cite web|url=http://www.planetware.com/cairo/heliopolis-obelisk-egy-cai-obe.htm|title=15 Top Tourist Attractions in Cairo & Easy Day Trips - PlanetWare}} It is the only surviving element of Heliopolis standing in its original position, and of the great Temple of Ra—Atum constructed by Pharaoh Senusret I (1971—1926 BCE) of the Twelfth Dynasty.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}} The {{convert|68|ft|2|abbr=on}} tall red granite obelisk weighs 120 tons—{{convert|240,000|lb|kg}}.

A pink granite megalithic colossus statue, with features resembling those of the Pharaoh Ramesses II, was found in El Matareya in 2006, weighing five tons—{{convert|11,023|lb|kg}}. It was at the ruins of a sun temple dating back to the reign of Ramses II (reigned 1279—1213 BCE), at the site of later Souk El-Khamis.

The underground tombs of High Priests of Re of the Sixth Dynasty (2345—2181 BCE) were found in the southeast corner of the Re-Atum Temple archaeological site in El Matareya.{{cite web |url=http://www.planetware.com/cairo/heliopolis-el-matariya-tombs-egy-cai-elmat.htm |title=El-Matariya Tombs, Heliopolis, Cairo |access-date=2011-01-30 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101223101624/http://www.planetware.com/cairo/heliopolis-el-matariya-tombs-egy-cai-elmat.htm |archive-date=2010-12-23 }} The Necropolis of Heliopolis, {{convert|3|mi|km}} east of the Masalla obelisk in El Matareya, dates from the Middle Kingdom (c. 2055—1550 BCE) and New Kingdom (c. 1550—1069 BCE).{{cite web|url=http://www.planetware.com/cairo/heliopolis-necropolis-egy-cai-hnecro.htm|title=15 Top Tourist Attractions in Cairo & Easy Day Trips - PlanetWare}} A domed tomb made for a priest during the Twenty-sixth Dynasty (c. 685—525 BCE), was discovered under a construction site in 2004. Many funereal small figure statues were found inside (over 400), and hieroglyphic writing was on the tomb's walls from the seventh century BCE.

In March 2017, the Egyptian-German team of archaeologists unearthed an eight-meter 3,000-year-old statue that included a head and a torso thought to depict Pharaoh Ramses II. According to Khaled El-Enany, the Egyptian Antiquities Minister, the statue was more likely thought to be King Psammetich I. Excavators also revealed an 80 cm-long part of a limestone statue of Pharaoh Seti II while excavating the site.{{Cite web|author=Thomas Page|title=Colossal 3,000-year-old statue unearthed from Cairo pit|url=https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/ramses-ii-ozymandias-statue-cairo/index.html|access-date=2021-01-14|website=CNN|language=en}}{{Cite news|last=Youssef|first=Nour|date=2017-03-17|title=So Many Pharaohs: A Possible Case of Mistaken Identity in Cairo |language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/17/world/middleeast/egypt-cairo-pharaoh-statue-ramses-psamtik.html|access-date=2021-01-14|issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite news|last=Aboulenein|first=Ahmed|date=2017-03-09|title=Colossus probably depicting Ramses II found in Egypt|language=en|work=Reuters|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-archaeology-idUSKBN16G2A2|access-date=2021-01-14}}{{Cite web|last=Katz|first=Brigit|title=Huge Statue of Egyptian Pharaoh Discovered in Cairo|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/huge-statue-egyptian-pharaoh-discovered-cairo-180962497/|access-date=2021-01-14|website=Smithsonian Magazine|language=en}}

File:Illustration by David Roberts, digitally enhanced by rawpixel-com 99.jpg]]

A sycamore tree within the suburb, known locally as the Tree of the Virgin, has been a place of pilgrimage for Coptic Christians for many centuries, who come to pray by it or touch it, believing that it will heal illness.{{cite news|title=Cairo Journal; A Tree Drooping With Its Ancient Burden of Faith - The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/26/world/cairo-journal-a-tree-drooping-with-its-ancient-burden-of-faith.html|access-date=2016-12-16|work=The New York Times|date=26 December 2001 |last1=Sachs |first1=Susan }} According to local beliefs, the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph stopped at El Matareya (then a small village) when they fled into Egypt. Mary rested against the tree and a spring of water sprang up near it for Mary to wash the infant Jesus. For many years its bark was taken by Christians in the belief that it had miraculous properties.{{cite web|title=Virgin Mary's Tree | Egypt Tourism Authority|url=http://www.egypt.travel/attraction/index/virgin-marys-tree|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304104338/http://www.egypt.travel/attraction/index/virgin-marys-tree|archive-date=2016-03-04|access-date=2016-12-16}} Next to the tree is a small chapel.{{cite web|title=9 Things To Do in Al Matariyah, Egypt|url=http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Africa/Egypt/Muhafazat_al_Qahirah/Al_Matariyah-2008811/Things_To_Do-Al_Matariyah-TG-C-1.html|access-date=2016-12-16|publisher=virtualtourist.com}}

Matariya is subdivided into nine shiakhas.

File:Cairo - Al-Matariya District Map.jpgIn the 2017 census Matariya had 602,485 residents across its nine shiakhas.{{Cite web |last=Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS) |date=2017 |title=2017 Census for Population and Housing Conditions |url=https://www.cedejcapmas.org/adws/app/4d5b52dc-669d-11e9-b6a6-975656a88994/index.html |access-date=2023-02-21 |website=CEDEJ-CAPMAS}}

• Desert Research Center, established by Laszlo Almasy
• Faculty of Engineering, Helwan University
• National Urology Institute of Egypt
• El Matareya Teaching Hospital

The western part of El Matareya, within the industrial area of Musturud along the Ismailia canal, is the location of oil companies (Shell, Misr Petrol, and General Association of Oil in Egypt), and food industries (BiscoMisr and Misr lil Albaan).{{cite web|url=http://www.ssamir.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=25&Itemid=40|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070821180130/http://www.ssamir.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=25&Itemid=40|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 21, 2007|title=Said Samir|website=Said Samir}}

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{{Districts of Cairo|cairo}}

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Category:History of Cairo

Category:Districts of Greater Cairo

Category:Archaeological sites in Egypt

Category:Districts of Cairo