Saint Catherine Monastery
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Saint Catherine Monastery is an ancient Greek Orthodox monastery located at the foot of Mount Sinai in Egypt, and it holds the distinction of being the oldest continuously operating monastery in the world. It is historically significant as a major religious site associated with biblical tradition and has preserved important religious manuscripts and artifacts for centuries.
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Saint Catherine's Monastery (Arabic: دير القدّيسة كاترين Dayr al-Qiddīsa Katrīn, Greek: Ιερά Μονή Αγίας Αικατερίνης Όρους Σινά, romanized: Iërá Moní Ayías Ekaterínis Órus Siná), officially the Sacred Autonomous Royal Monastery of Saint Catherine of the Holy and God-Trodden Mount Sinai, is a Christian monastery located in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. Located at the foot of Mount Sinai, it was built between 548 and 565, and is the world's oldest continuously inhabited Christian monastery.
The monastery was built by order of the Byzantine emperor Justinian I, enclosing what is claimed to be the burning bush seen by Moses. Centuries later, the purported body of Catherine of Alexandria, said to have been found in the area, was taken to the monastery; Catherine's relics turned it into an important Christian pilgrimage, and the monastery was eventually renamed after the saint.
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560s establishments565 establishments6th-century churchesArchives in EgyptBuildings and structures in South Sinai GovernorateChristian monasteries established in the 6th centuryEastern Orthodox church buildings in EgyptEastern Orthodox pilgrimage sitesMonasteries of the Byzantine EmpireMount SinaiPalimpsestsPlaces associated with hesychasm