El-Matariya Attractions

In front of the Chapel of the Virgin in the nearby village of El-Matariya, a popular place of pilgrimage in the Middle Ages, is the so-called Virgin's Tree, a sycamore planted in 1672 in replacement of an older tree. According to legend the Virgin and Child rested under the shade of a tree here during their flight into Egypt. The little garden in which the tree stands is watered from a spring, said to have been called into being by the infant Jesus, which yields good fresh water, whereas the water of all the other springs in the area is slightly brackish. The legend of the Virgin's tree links up with an older cult; for the ancient Egyptians venerated a tree in Heliopolis beneath which Isis was believed to have suckled the infant Horus.