During the rule of Mohammed Ali Pasha, the Ottoman governor of Egypt, in the 1830s, the Coptic community in Palestine experienced a period of prosperity. This paved the way for the Coptic Patriarch of Alexandria to appoint a resident archbishop as his official representative in Jerusalem.
The Coptic Convent and Orthodox Church of St. Mary are located on Milk Grotto Street, just a short walk from the Church of the Nativity. These sacred sites were established during the 1950s by Bishop Yacoub of Jerusalem. To create the complex, Bishop Yacoub purchased several neighbouring homes and transformed one into the Coptic Church of St. Mary, while designating the remaining spaces to build a convent for Coptic nuns.
Today, this humble yet significant religious complex is managed and maintained by only two nuns. These sisters are renowned for their artistic talents, creating beautiful and colourful hand-painted Coptic and Byzantine icons, as well as producing women's scarves and liturgical garments for deacons.