Abbassia

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title: "Abbassia" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["populated-places-in-cairo-governorate", "districts-of-cairo", "geography-of-egypt", "districts-of-greater-cairo"] description: "Neighbourhood in Cairo, Egypt" topic_path: "geography" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbassia" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Neighbourhood in Cairo, Egypt ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox settlement"]

Field	Value
name	Abbassia
native_name	العباسية
settlement_type	District
image_skyline	{{Photomontage
photo2a	Game3 El Nour.JPG
photo3a	Qubba Fadawiya DSCF4260.jpg
photo3b	CairoAbbasiyaButrusiya.jpg
photo4a	Jewish Temple, Abbasyia, Cairo.JPG
photo4b	(قصر الزعفران (إدارة جامعة عين شمس.jpg
size	230
spacing	2
color	transparent
border	0
pushpin_map	Egypt
pushpin_mapsize	300
pushpin_map_caption	Location in Egypt
subdivision_type	Country
subdivision_name	Egypt
subdivision_type1	Governorate
subdivision_name1	Cairo Governorate
timezone1	EET
utc_offset1	+2
timezone1_DST	EEST
utc_offset1_DST	+3
coordinates
image_caption	Clockwise: Al Nour Mosque, St. Peter's Church, Zaafaranah Palace, Karaite Jewish Temple, Qubba al-Fadawiyya
::

| name = Abbassia | native_name = العباسية | settlement_type = District | image_skyline = {{Photomontage | photo2a = Game3 El Nour.JPG | photo3a = Qubba Fadawiya DSCF4260.jpg | photo3b = CairoAbbasiyaButrusiya.jpg | photo4a = Jewish Temple, Abbasyia, Cairo.JPG | photo4b = (قصر الزعفران (إدارة جامعة عين شمس.jpg | size = 230 | spacing = 2 | color = transparent | border = 0 | pushpin_map = Egypt | pushpin_mapsize = 300 | pushpin_map_caption = Location in Egypt | subdivision_type = Country | subdivision_name = Egypt | subdivision_type1 = Governorate | subdivision_name1 = Cairo Governorate | timezone1 = EET | utc_offset1 = +2 | timezone1_DST = EEST | utc_offset1_DST = +3 | coordinates = | image_caption = Clockwise: Al Nour Mosque, St. Peter's Church, Zaafaranah Palace, Karaite Jewish Temple, Qubba al-Fadawiyya Abbassia ( ) is a neighbourhood that makes up five shiakhas (census blocks) in al-Wayli district in Cairo, Egypt.

The Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral is located in Abbassia, as are the medical faculty of Ain Shams University and its affiliate hospital units. The Abbassia metro station is located there as well.

History

The modern district of Abbassia is named after Abbas Helmy Pasha and was built upon an older Coptic village called p-Sovt em-p-Hoi ( "the wall of the moat") and later Shats ( "the moat"), which is a calque on the latter Arabic al-Khandaq ( "the moat").

In 1865 an observatory, principally for meteorological work, was founded at Abbassia, by the Khedive Isma'il Pasha and maintained continuously there for nearly forty years. The building lay on the boundary between the cultivated Nile Delta and the desert, but then with urban encroachment, it was decided in 1904 to move the meteorological work to Helwan. The observatory at Abbassia was an empty monument until 1952.

Abbassia and the nearby region saw heavy rainfall during a period of time geological researchers call the Pluvial Abbassia. During this period, red, green and purple rocks or gravel became distributed all along the valley and Delta regions of the Nile. Gravel beds were formed, including a famous gravel bed at Abbassia. Photographed and described in 1926 by Paul Bovier-Lapierre, these gravel beds were as thick as 33 feet (10 metres/meters) in some areas.

In the Second World War, during which Egypt was the scene of heavy fighting, the United Kingdom located its Royal Armoured Corps School in Abbassia. In September 1941, an Italian Air Force plane bombed a British Army depot in Abbassia.

The Cathedral of Saint Mark in Abbassia was the site of the 2012 funeral for Coptic Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria, attracting more than two million mourners from around the world. A queue of over one kilometer in length formed to view the body of the pope, and as people pushed to get close, three people were crushed to death, and 137 were injured.

During the continued 2012 protests of the Egyptian Revolution of 2011, Abbassia was the scene of confrontations between protesters and armed gangs. On December 11, 2016 a chapel next to the Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral was the site of a suicide bombing against Egypt's Coptic community. Of the 25 Copts who died in the explosion, most were women and children. The army was deployed to the site, and Egypt began three days of mourning.

References

References

1. Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS). (2017). "2017 Census for Population and Housing Conditions".
2. "Address".
3. (2017). "Christianity and Monasticism in Northern Egypt: Beni Suef, Giza, Cairo, and the Nile Delta". Oxford University Press.
4. "Khandaq, Al- :: Claremont Coptic Encyclopedia".
5. Casanova, Paul. "Les noms coptes du Caire et localités voisines". BIFAO.
6. (1907). "Helwan Magnetic Observatory, Egypt". Terrestrial Magnetism and Atmospheric Electricity.
7. (1907). "The Climate of Abbassia, Near Cairo". National printing Department.
8. "Helwan Observatory - UNESCO".
9. (December 6, 2002). "The Geological Evolution of the River Nile". Springer Science & Business Media.
10. (September 2, 2009). "The A to Z of British Intelligence". Scarecrow Press.
11. Richard Overy, (Penguin, 2013) The Bombers And The Bombed: Allied Air War Over Europe, 1940-1945, p. 333
12. (March 19, 2012). "Egypt: Three Dead After Vigil For Coptic Christian Pope".
13. (March 19, 2012). "Pope sends message for Shenouda III's death, huge crowds form to see his body". AsiaNews.
14. (March 20, 2012). "Thousands attend funeral of Coptic Pope Shenouda III".
15. Abdelhadi, Magdi. (3 May 2012). "Egyptians take Tahrir Square to the junta's doorstep". The Guardian.
16. "List of attacks on Christians churches, institutions and individuals in Egypt".

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