St. Catherine Monastery

St. Catherine Monastery Situated approximately 1,570 feet above sea level at the foot of Mountain Moses, the center of a significantly valued pilgrimage, St. Catherine is considered one of the four most sacred monasteries in the Middle East. In 342 A.D, Empress Helena mother of Constantine the Great, formerly known as the Virgin, built a monastery at the site of the Burning Bush where it is believed that Moses received the 10 commandments.

In the 6th century AD, Emperor Justinian I ordered the construction of the church of Transfiguration, in addition to a high enclosure wall with towers armed with Roman Soldiers to protect the monastery from Bedouins. Both the monastery and the church were later called St. Catherine, In the monastery lies a diversity of picturesque sites to visit, the enclosure wall surrounding the monastery was built from granite stones with approximate height of 15 meters, On the northern side of the monastery rests the Great Church encompassing two aisles and a central nave, The nave ends with an altar near a reliquary of marble that contains the relics of St. Catherine.

The Monastery of St. Catherine, also known as the Monastery of the Transfiguration, It is located in a triangular area between the Desert of El-Tih, the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Aqaba in Sinai, And situated at an altitude of 4854 feet in a small picturesque gorge, It is a region of wilderness made up of granite rock and rugged mountains which at first glance seems inaccessible, In fact while small towns and villages have grown up on the shores of the two gulfs, only a few Bedouin roam the mountains and arid land inland, There are well known mountains dominate this region, including Mount Sinai (2,285 meters), Mount St.Catherine (2,637 meters), Mount Serbal (2,070 meters) and Mount Episteme.

The Monastery incorporates one of the most significant religious libraries in the world containing a massive number of rare historical manuscripts and decrees of various Caliphs and rulers. It also includes the Well of Moses north of the Great Church, in addition to the Burning Bush Well and St. Stephen’s Well to its south.