St. Katherine Monastery | St. Katherine Region Sharm El Sheikh Holiday Guide

Set beneath the mountain where Moses is said to have received the Ten Commandments, Saint Catherine Monastery has been one of the world’s great centers of religious pilgrimage for over fifteen centuries. Within its imposing walls rests a citadel like no other, incredibly rich in important religious and historical structures. Among its treasures is a library of ancient manuscripts and icons second only to the Vatican's itself, and a 6th century church reputed to lie directly on the site of the Burning Bush. Quite simply, the monastery is a defining feature of the Holy Land.
The St. Katherine Monastery has 6 main attractions; The Basilica, Chapel of the Burning Bush, Charnel House , Justinian's Wall , The Library and Gallery of Icons, The Mosque
The Basilica

St Katherine BasilicaThe physical heart of St. Catherine's monastery is its Byzantine-style basilica, which was built along with the protective walls in 527 A.D. The basilica has three naves, and its dazzlingly ornate interior contains works of art spanning fifteen centuries. Among the more distinctive pieces are the many lamps which hang from the ceiling in a silvery, glittering constellation, and the impressive mosaics. Lying next to the main alter is a sarcophagus which allegedly holds the remains of St. Catherine herself.
Chapel of the Burning Bush

Chapel of the Burning BushThe monastery's spiritual heart is the Chapel of the Burning Bush, an unassuming structure of tremendous religious significance. According the oldest monastic tradition, this chapel sits atop the roots of the same Biblical bush "that burned with fire, and was not consumed" (Exodus 3:2) when God spoke to Moses for the first time. A few feet away from the Chapel is the reputed bush itself, a rare species of the rose family called Rubus Sanctus. This species is endemic to Sinai and extremely long-lived, a fact that lends scientific credence to the site. The sprawling bush is said to have been transplanted in the tenth century, when the chapel was given a roof. Today, it is very large in size, and many monks and scholars agree that the bush's presence is the very reason St. Catherine's Monastery developed in the first place.
Charnel House

Charnel HouseOver the centuries, thousands of monks have lived and died within the walls of St. Catherine Monastery. Because the monastery's small cemetery is not enough to accommodate their remains, the monks are later re-exhumed and their bones placed in the crypt beneath the Chapel of St. Trifonio, a place also known as the Charnel House. There is probably no better way to grasp the enduring legacy of the monks than to visit the crypt and see the piled host of skulls staring back through the eons in silence.
Justinian's Wall

Justinian's WallIn 527 A.D., the Byzantine emperor Justinian ordered the construction of two of the monastery's defining features, the wall and the basilica. The imposing wall was meant to defend the inhabitants of the monastery from the local bedouin tribes, and it reaches up to 9 ft in thickness and sixty ft in height. In 1801, another emperor, Napoleon, ordered their restoration.
The Library and Gallery of Icons

The library at St. Catherine is, by any standard, extraordinary. It contains the largest collection of Christian manuscripts and icons outside of the Vatican Museum. In 1844, a German scholar visiting the library discovered -- and then arguably stole -- the Codex Sinaiticus, an extremely important 4th- century version of the Bible that now rests in the British Museum. Similar incidents throughout the years have forced the monastery to allow access only to visitors who have obtained written permission from the Archbishop of Cairo. Attatched to the library is the Gallery of Icons, which houses over 2,000 of these ancient treasures.
The Mosque

St. Catherine's Mosque was originally a chapel, but in 1106 it was converted into an Islamic structure a Muslim detachment defending the monastery during the crusades. On special occasions, the mosque is still used by the local bedouin, who have helped maintain the monastery grounds for centuries. One of the mosque's most significant features is a minbar, or Islamic style pulpit, which remains the only one of its kind.