Saint Catherine Monastery, Byzantine monastery at Mount Sinai, Egypt
Saint Catherine Monastery sits at the foot of Mount Sinai in South Sinai, a fortified Byzantine complex with high stone walls and a central church topped by a dome. Within the walls, several chapels, monk quarters, and a bell tower spread across the terraced inner courtyard.
Emperor Justinian I founded the complex in 548 to shelter Christian pilgrims drawn to the site of the biblical burning bush. Over the centuries, treaties with Muslim rulers protected the community, allowing it to endure as a spiritual center.
Mount Sinai rises directly behind the walls, and many visitors take the steep climb to its summit to experience sunrise over the desert. Monks continue living within the compound following long-established routines, tending gardens and conducting services in the chapels.
Visitors reach the complex through organized tours that typically begin in the morning and involve a drive of roughly two and a half hours through the desert. Those planning to climb the mountain should start well before sunrise to complete the ascent in time.
The library houses over three thousand ancient manuscripts, including texts in Greek, Arabic, Syriac, Georgian, and Slavonic languages. It ranks as the oldest continuously operating library in the world, second only to the Vatican in its collection of religious texts.
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