Saint Catherine monastery

At the Burning Bush of Moses, at the foot of Mount Sinai (Gebel Musa), is the fortified monastery of Santa Caterina, 15 centuries inhabited by a small community of monks greek-orthodox. It rises to 1,500 meters high and was built by Emperor Justinian in the sixth century AD by the name of the Monastery of the Transfiguration. Only in the ninth century was renamed in honor of the martyr St. Catherine of Alexandria who died in 310 AD. Catherine Convertitesi to Christianity was accused of worshiping pagan idols and condemned to death. It is said that at the time of decapitation, the body was taken by angels and taken to Mount Sinai where a few centuries after he was found perfectly preserved by the monks of the Monastery of the Transfiguration on the recommendation of a dream. His remains are buried in the basilica of the monastery. The religious complex is made up of several buildings of different eras, the mosque for Muslim pilgrims, the church of the Transfiguration, topped by a tall bell tower, whose bells every morning in the tradition of the monastery, beat 33 strokes (symbolizing the years of life Christ) to announce a new day.The oldest part of the monastery is visible in the chapel of the Burning Bush built in the exact spot where the bush appeared to Moses in flames, but certainly of great value and rarity is its library which houses the second largest collection (after the Vatican ) of ancient manuscripts. In the museum you can see priceless Byzantine icons, beautifully carved doors, beautiful frescoes and other religious decorations in gold and precious stones. The monastery is open to visitors on weekdays except Friday and offers the possibility to stay overnight providing some rooms. Ricordo that the hike is quite challenging, because the stairs leading to the Monastery has about 3000 steps.