UNESCO Registers Festivals Celebrating Holy Family's Journey in Egypt

The Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have successfully registered festivals that celebrate the Holy Family's journey through Egypt into the UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Said to have taken place over four years, the journey saw the Virgin Mary, Joseph and Jesus flee from Jerusalem towards Egypt, where they trekked from Sinai to Assiut.

The Monastery of the Virgin Mary in Durunka, a city that sits on Mount Assiut, marks the site where the Holy Family were said to have stayed in a mountain cave before they began their return journey. The cave was once a pharaonic quarry, and now includes the Cave Church. Overlooking the Nile Valley, the Monastery of the Virgin Mary hosts the festival of the Holy Virgin every August, which celebrates the Virgin Mary's bodily ascent into heaven.