Holy Family's Virgin Mary Tree Area Has Been Restored

After years of renovations and restoration, the Tree of the Virgin Mary in Matareya has reopened to the public.

The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities has been working to restore monuments and sites along the Holy Family trail between Betlehem, Palestine and Cairo, Egypt. The Holy Family trail in Egypt  stretches 3,500 kilometres from Sinai to Assiut, marked by monasteries, churches, shrines, wells, and other Coptic icons. The area surrounding the Tree of the Virgin Mary had been cleaned up, with maps introduced to the tree’s surroundings in order to better guide people towards the site and better tell its story. The buildings in the area were also repainted and renovated for EGP 5 million. 

The Mashrabeya and Ibn Al Hakam highways were similarly paved, to make the road towards the site as smooth and accessible as possible.