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The
Monastery of St. Catherine was built by order of the Roman
Emperor Justinian in the years between
527 and 565 AD. Its name derives from a martyr
called Saint Katherine in the 3rd Century AD.
Intention was to protect the monks and hermits living in this
area. Belonging to the Greek Orthodox Church,
it is the oldest Christian Monastery existing. |
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way indication to
the steps |
It
can be recommended to first climb the Mount
Sinai at nights, while visiting the Monastery
in the morning of the following day. Walking down the 3.700
steps in the morning gives a very nice view to the
Monastery.
Still nowadays, the Monastery
is a religious place for monks. Approximately
only 10-20 monks are living in the Monastery. They are East
Orthodox, being guided by the Archbishop of St. Catherine's.
Therefore, we ask all visitors to respect this situation
as a religious place. Although giving great hospitality,
massive tourism is putting much pressure to
this tradition. As a result, monks can not be seen much
arround anymore and opening hours have been
reduced to 3 hours in the morning (9-12 a.m.), except Friday,
Sunday and Feast Days (closed). |
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Beduines offering
camel rides |
Tourists waiting for the Monastery doors to open |
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View from the steps
to the Monastery |
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The Chappel from inside.
We ask you to respect the silence in this place.
with kind support of STK
Parks |
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Beduines from the
tribe Gebeleya |
The
Beduin of the tribe Gebeleya have protected
the Monastery every since. Therefore, emporer Justinian has
sent 100 guards from Alexandria and another
100 guards from Rumania, Bosnia
and Anatolia (Black Sea). Within the following
centuries they intermarried with local Beduines
and are now hardly to be distinguished from pure local Beduines.
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The
library of the Monastery is supposed to be one
of the oldest and perhaps the second largest library in the
world. Visitors are not permitted here.
However, visitors are allowed to enter the chapel,
that bares some very old reference material for text, images,
icons and paintings. Its value is believed to be uncomparable
in the world.
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The burning bush |
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The
valley of the Monastery with view noth-east. Many people are
waiting in front of the Monastery. 500 meter away, there are
colonies of busses waiting to pick up the visitors again -
going back to Sharm or
Cairo. If you want to avoid mass tourism, you should ask the
excursion agency or the Monastery
itself for days that are less crowded. |
Contacts:
Sun
& Fun, Naama Bay, Sharm El Sheikh
Tel: +20.69.601 623, Fax: +20.69.600 602, email |
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