Opened to the public in 2000, the Coptic Museum of Canada (formerly St. Mark’s Coptic Museum) is the cultural legacy of Father Marcos A. Marcos’ visionary and pioneer endeavour to share Coptic cultural heritage in North America. Fr Marcos A. Marcos, 1929-2020 – Founder

The Museum was incorporated in the Province of Ontario as a not-for-profit heritage organization in affiliation with the Ontario Historical Society in 2017.  The name of the Museum was officially changed in 2018 to the Coptic Museum of Canada (CMC)/Musée copte du Canada (MCC), which reflects its nation-wide reach and more explicitly identifies the Museum as a Canadian organization.

The Museum is a member the Ontario Historical Society, the Ontario Museum Association, the International Association for Coptic Studies, The Canadian Society for Coptic Studies, and the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities.

The Museum houses unique collections of Coptic art and the art of the Copts. The artifacts in these collections have been researched, acquired, documented, photographed, and conserved according to professional standards. The collections include icons, paintings, textiles, manuscripts and old books, stamps, coins, clay work, jewelry, metal work, and woodwork. The oldest of the artifacts are faience beads dating 1331 B.C., strung into necklaces and earrings. The most recent is a painting dating 2021.

The Cecile Barsoum Reference Library’s holdings contain books and journals related to Coptic art, the art of the Copts across the centuries, and historical, theological, and archeological publications. The catalogue of the Reference Library is available online.

The collections form the basis of our programing to raise the public’s understanding and awareness of the heritage and the art of the Copts. Since 2002 the Museum has mounted at least two in-house exhibitions or one travel exhibition annually, in addition to organizing art workshops and lectures, offering university student internships, and producing publications about the collections and Museum activities.

The Museum attracts visitors from Canadian and internationally based Coptic churches and ecumenical organizations, public and private school students and teachers, university and college faculty and students, scholars, museum curators and staff, and tourists. Souvenirs and publications are available for sale.

The Museum is fully managed by a team of dedicated volunteers.

For more information contact the Volunteer Curator, Helene Moussa at copticmuseumcanada@gmail.com .