Bilbeis - Bilbeis

North side of the Church of St. George
Bilbeis · ‏بلبيس‎
GovernorateSharqiyah
Residents
141.285 (2006)
height
17 m
no tourist info on Wikidata: Add tourist information
location
Location map of the Nile Delta in Egypt
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Bilbeis

The egyptian city Bilbeis (also Bilbēs, Belbeis, Belbees, Bilbais, Bilbays, Arabic:بلبيس‎, Bilbais) is located in the east Nile Delta at the west end of the Wādī eṭ-Ṭumīlāt about 25 kilometers south of the city ez-Zaqāzīq or about 50 kilometers northeast of Cairo in the egyptian Governorate esch-Sharqīya. The city in 2006 about 141,000 inhabitants[1] lived, was a station on the Escape of the Holy Family to Egypt.

background

The city was a fortress city in Pharaonic times and belonged to the 19th Lower Egyptian Gau with the capital Bubastis. Her name is not known exactly at this time: maybe it was Bast or Per-bA-ir-st. The fortifications have existed at least since the Ramessids (18th / 19th dynasties), they possibly reached back to the Hyksos period, at the end of the 17th dynasty, or even to the Middle Kingdom. While the finds from the time of Nectanebo II (30th Dynasty) come from local building activity, the artifacts of Ramses ’II and Merenptahs were probably brought here.

For the Christians, they call this city Ⲫⲉⲗⲃⲉⲥ, Phelb [e] s, this city plays a big role. It is part of the Goschen landscape, where Jakob and his sons lived with their wives and children. Also the Holy Family came from Bubastis to Bilbeis. It is reported in the New Testament that the holy family attended a funeral of a widow's son here. Jesus took hold of the deceased's bier and told him to get up, and the deceased began to live again (Lk 7,11–17 EU).

From the fourth to the eleventh century Bilbeis was the seat of a bishopric. But none of its numerous churches have survived.

In the 1160s, the city was the scene of clashes between the Fatimid rulers of Egypt and the kings of Jerusalem (i.a. Amalrich I.). The subsequent siege of the city by the crusaders brought no improvement. Both Muslims and Christians suffered. The clashes ended with the conquest and seizure of power through Saladin (Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf bin Ayyūb) 1169 or 1171. Saladin founded the Ayyubid dynasty in Egypt.

During the time of the Napoleonic conquest in 1798, the city was again a fortress city.

getting there

In the street

Bilbeis can be reached by car from Cairo from Ismailiya Road (Fernverkehsstraße 04), from which you turn near Ramadan City onto Bilbeis Road. The Ismailiya Road toll is LE 2.

The city can also be of ez-Zaqāzīq from by car or microbus. Ez-Zaqāzīq can be reached by train from Cairo.

mobility

In the place you are dependent on a car.

Tourist Attractions

Mosques

  • 1  Mosque of the Emir (Prince) el-Geish (‏مسجد أمير الجيش‎, Masǧid Amīr al-Haish), Shari 'Sa'ad Zaghlul. The mosque was built as early as 640. It received its current appearance after a restoration in 1593.(30 ° 25 ′ 0 ″ N.31 ° 34 ′ 2 ″ E)
  • Great Mosque of the Forgotten Sheikh (‏المسجد الكبير - مسجد الشيخ المنسي‎, al-Masǧid al-kabīr (Masǧid al-Sheikh al-Mansī))

Churches

Nave of the new, upper church
3  Church of St. George (‏كنيسة مارجرجس‎, Kanīsat Mār Ǧirǧis). The predecessor of today's church was built by the future father Michail Ibrahim in 1932. It is reported that a Muslim guard was ridden by a rider on a white horse in which St. Georg believed he had been asked to report that the space he had shown was to be used for the construction of this church. When digging the earth for the foundation of the old church, a metal crucifix is ​​said to have been found, which was then set into the new foundation.(30 ° 25 ′ 17 ″ N.31 ° 33 '58 "E.)last change: Aug. 2017 (information may be out of date)

In 1987 the church was rebuilt. The new church was built over the old one, it now consists of two floors. The lower church contains the iconostasis and the icons of the old church. The upper church is a modern hall church with three holy holy places (heicals) for St. Thomas (left), St. Georg and for Amba Antonius. Left of the holy of holies of St. Thomas, a relic of this saint is kept. In the northeast corner of the church there is a wooden model of the previous church.

Father Mina Ghobrial can show you around the church. But he only speaks Arabic.

various

The Sekem Group has been doing organic farming here for 30 years. The group includes a kindergarten, a school, teaching centers, textile and food factories as well as a private university.

activities

In the month of Shawwāl, the tenth month of the Islamic calendar, you will find the Mulids (Birthday celebrations) for Abu Isa and Abu Alwan.

Once a year there is a festival of Arab horses in the vicinity of the city.

shop

Bilbeis is an interesting town where you can buy a lot. Among other things, gold jewelry is very nicely made, not too expensive and really unique pieces.

kitchen

  • El Sayed Abdel Ghany Restaurant, Port Said St. Mobile: 20 (0)100 135 2132.

accommodation

The city of Bilbeis has no (classified) hotels. Accommodations the traveler will find in relatively nearby locations Cairo choose.

trips

Visiting the city can be combined with other sites along the Holy Family Escape Route connect so with ez-Zaqāzīq, Daqādūs, Samannūd and Sacha.

literature

  • Wiet, G [aston]: Bilbays. In:Gibb, Hamilton Alexander Rosskeen (Ed.): The Encyclopaedia of Islam: Second Edition; Vol. 1: A - B. Suffer: Brill, 1960, ISBN 978-90-04-08114-7 , P. 1218.
  • Timm, Stefan: Bilbēs. In:Christian Coptic Egypt in Arab times; Vol. 1: A - C. Wiesbaden: Reichert, 1984, Supplements to the Tübingen Atlas of the Middle East: Series B, Geisteswissenschaften; 41.1, ISBN 978-3-88226-208-7 , Pp. 401-406.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑Population according to the 2006 Egyptian census, Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics, accessed December 16, 2014.
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