Saint Catherine Monastery on the List of First Class International Heritage

On June 27, in the Hungarian Capital Bodapest, the International Heritage Committee Conference approved the registeration of Saint Catherine Monastry in the list of International Heritage list as of the first class.

Thus, the number of Egyptian sites on the International Heritage list rose to be 7, namely; Abu Simbel, Luxor, ancient Cairo, Pyramids Plateau and Abu Mina Monastery.
Within the framework of the conference, the area of Ras-Muhammad was nominated to be a natural reserve on the committee's agenda for the coming year. By virtue of the committee resolution, Saint Catherine area, thirtieth site on the list, benefits from international protection, as the rest of other international heritage sites.

Saint Catherine city is famous for its various sites, e.g.; Firon village. Firon is considered a garden; for being rich with the best kinds of fruits of special taste, such as apricots, peach and cantaloupe in addition to the best kind of olives. Furthermore, the city houses Maktab Valleys that is located near Maghara Valleys, besides thousands of unique historical engravings.

Saint Catherine reserve is about 4300 Km2 in South Sinai. It is famous for its eye-catching landscape and fascinating scenery, thus providing great opportunities for safari tours. In view of its unique natural features, Saint Catherine city and its surroundings were declared a natural reserve by the Prime Minister decree No. 940 of 1996.

The reserve enjoys unique natural, cultural and historical features. In addition to its time-honoured heritage, it is notable for its rare animals; (e.g, gazelles, hyenas and hars), reptiles; (e.g, monitor lizards and cerastes) and birds; (e.g, bustards), beside various plants and medical herbs that grow abundantly in the reserve.

Promenade and camel-riding are the best means to enjoy the fascinating landscape of South Sinai and its high mountains that serve as the residence of many bedwin tribes. This area is notable for its diversified wild life , high mountains, palm-trees-shaded vallies, inlets, furrows and fresh water lakes. Futhermore, the area uniqueness is attributed also to its deep-rooted religious history.

The reserve also houses several monumental, cultural and religious sites. On top of which comes Saint Catherine Monastery, Moses Mountain, the highest mountain in Egypt, in addition to its matchless diversified flora and fauna.

Site of Prophet Saleh (PBUH)
Saint Catherine area encompasses many significant sites including al-Tarfas site that dates back to more than 30,000 years, and abu-Madis site that dates back to 10,000 years. The latter enjoys a wide-world fame, particularly among specialists, as it witnessed one of the major civilizational transformations from hunting and shooting to agriculture and grazing.

In addition, Saint Catherine area is famous for the matchless locations of residential villages, dating back to thousands of years. These villages include Prophet Saleh's (PBUH) site, that is called al-Marwas, Sheikh Mohsens site, and Sheikh Awwads site.
Alexandrian Saint

The natural and civilizational heritage of Saint Catherine city dates back to pre-historic eras. The area is rich with many monumental sites that date back to more than 30,000 years. The city bore such a name after the name of one of its major sites, i.e. Saint Catherine Monastery, that was previously called Mount Sinai Monasterys.

Catherines is the wife of one of the monks, and was known as the Alexandrian Saints during the period of religious persecution against Christians. She struggled for defending her religious beliefs until she died and was buried in the same location of Saint Catherine Monastery, in the 19th century. It is worthmentioning that many churches all over the world bear the name of Saint Catherine, such as Saint Catherine Church in Mansheyas district, Alexandria.

The city, undoubtedly, is famous for religious tourism in Moses Mountain, Catherine Mountain, al-Banat Mountain and Saint Catherine Monastery.
Saint Catherine Monastery and Religious Tourism Religious tourism comes on top of the other kinds of toursim witnessed in Saint Catherine city. In this respect, Saint Catherine Monastery enjoys a remarkable significance as a tourist site for those yearning for religious tourism.

The Monastery was built in the 6th century A.D or the 4th century A.D., according to some sources. It is located at the foot of Mount Sinai on one of Wadi al-Sheikhs branches, and rises about 5012 feet above sea level. In 545 A.D, the Monastery was constructed by King Postilianos to be a fortress for Sinai monks. It comprises several monuments that presumably date back to the Christ's era. In addition, the monastery houses a large library that is south to the big Church.

It consists of three adjacent rooms and comprises about 6000 old historical, geographical and philosophic manuscripts, written in Greek, Syriac and Arabic.
In his international website for heritage and manuscripts, Dr. Youssef Zeidan, the cultural counselor of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, states that the library of the monastery is a closed fortress that words fail to describe . He also remarks that it was only Dr. Aziz Sorial Attia who could solve its mystery and attract poeple's attention towards its acquisitions.

Furthermore, Dr. Youssef notes that most of the monastery manuscripts were written in different languages other than Arabic. As for most of the Christian heritage, it was written in Arabic, especially the copies of the Old Testament and the New Testament (The Bible). Dr. Youssef adds that Korkees Awaad has referred to some of these copies as follows:
- The Prophets' works: It is a copy written by Moussa al-Raheb (Moses, the Monk) on paper in Kufic writing during the period between the beginings of the 2nd century and the end of the 3rd century AH. - The four bibles: This copy was written in Kufic on paper by Istafana al-Ramlys in 284 AH.
- Paul's letters: Written in an ancient text-hand that looks like Kufic writing, in 253 AH.
- The Old Testament: Its writing combines text-hand and Kufic. It was written in 328 AH.
- The Psalms: written in 367 AH.
- Hymns for ceremonies (in Arabic and Greek): written in 385 AH. The Monastery is located on the highest mountain top in Sinai. In addition, it is one of the most significant monasteries worldwide as a sacred Orthodox place. To the west, lies al-Rahas valley where Hebrews were waiting for prophet Moses (PBUH), after his direct speaking with God and recieving the Tablets that contain the Heaven's Instructions. The Monastery has a high fence that surrounds other buildings, connected by corridors. In addition, the fence surrounds al-'Oleiqas sacred tree.

Moses Mountain Most Eye-catching Landscape
It is one of the most significant mountains in South Sinai. Thus, the Monastery visitors are keen on climbing this mountain that is 2285 metres high, and about 7363 feet above sea level. It was named after Prophet Moses (PBUH) who used, for 40 days, to climb that mountain to speak directly with God in order to recieve the heavenly message and deliver it to his fellows who used to wait for him in al-Rahas valley. It is said that the mountain then was seen strongly shaking and with thunder.

When standing on the mountain top, one can see the most eye-catching scenary especially in the early morning. During these early hours, sun quite amazingly lays its rays on the clusters of mountains. On top of Moses' mountain, a small church was built side by side with a small mosque. This serves as the glarest manifestaion of national unity that has characterized the relation between Moslems and Copts since the dawn of history.
Catherine Mountain in the Eyeshot This mountain is one of the highest mountains in Egypt as it is about 8536 feet above sea level. It is called as such, according to the monks, because angels were said to have carried the body of Saint Catherine from the death place in Alexandria in 207 A.D to the peak of this mountain. Nothing remained from her corpse except for the skull and the bones of one of her hands that have been preserved inside a box in the monastery church uptill now.

When standing on top of Catherine Mountain, one can see al-Aqabas and Suezs gulf, especially when the sky is clear and the sun is shining.

Al-Banats Mount Martyrs of Freedom
It is a great 2052 metre high mountain that is separated from Serbal mountains by Feeran valleys. Many stories have been told about the reason behind the name of the mountain. Yet, the most popular of all of these says that some bedwin girls fled from their fellows in order not to get married to the men they did not love. They took refuge in the mountain. They decided to tie up their brades with each other and throw themselves into the valley, thus becoming the martyrs of freedom.

Al-Hakem-be-Amr-Allah
It is 10 meters far from the big church, and it is small and built with bricks and granite stones during the Fatimid era in 500 AH. According to a manuscript kept in the monastery, the mosque was built during the reign of al-Hakem-be-Amr-Allah (966-1021 A.D).

In addition, the city comprises the big church that is considered the most ancient Christian monument, dating back to the period of Emperor Gistian in the 6th century A.D. It was designed like the Basilicas, and it includes many portrayals of Christ and of other prophets. It's worthmentioning that the big church is linked to al-'Oleiqas sacred church. Besides, Saint Catherine city houses the Church of the Deads. It is a small room for keeping the deads skulls, in piles. The church encompasses six graveyards for monks and archbishops. The city is also famous for the small church that was built on top of Moses Mount, the small mosque beside the big church that was built in the Fatimid era in 500 AH, al-Oleiqas church that lies behind the Monastery main church, and Prophet Haron (PBUH) shrine that is found beside al-Oleiqas church.

Safari
Recently, safari tourism flourished widely in Saint Catherine city in view of its fascinating landscape. Safari fans visit the city to enjoy its beautiful natural scenery that scarcely exists anywhere else. Among high mountains and wide vallies, it is a real pleasure to enjoy walking and wandering around such fascinating nature.
Rare Plants Therapy

Scientists proved that plants and medical herbs therapy is less harmful than using chemicals. Henceforth, many studies were conducted to extract medicaments from medical plants and herbs to treat several diseases. Accordingly, Saint Catherine city gains new importance; as it is rich with such therapeutical natural herbs.
Saint Catherine Monastery Cultural Museum A new museum has been recently inaugurated inside Saint Catherine Monastery. It has been set by American experts from the Metropolitan Museums of New York. The new museum houses distinguished collections of rare books and volumes written in Greek, Coptic, Syriac, Latin and Arabic, and they date back to the first seven centuries A.D.

It is an international charity association, established five years ago and (headed by Prince Charles, the British Crown Prince that carried out the project. This association aims at maintaining Saint Catherine Monastery that consists of nine churches, a small mosque in addition to monks' residency and dining places.

al-O'hda al-Muhamadeias, one of the most significant acquisitions in the Monastery
A document on protecting Egypt's Copts, signed by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH):
Among the major acquisitions is an important document, dating back to the year 2 A.H. It is al-'Ohda al-Mohamadeyas; a document signed by Prophet Muhammad, May God's Peace and Prayers Be Upon Him, to gaurantee full protection for the monastery. This is the clearest evidence of the freedom of religions guaranteed by Islam. In addition, the monastery museum encompasses the cinema museums that dates back to the fourth century.

Fortunately, all these acquisitions and monumental treasures were kept in a dry clean weather in the heart of Sinai desert for long centuries. Thus, they are still in a good condition. Furthermore, the monastery is notable for being a huge artistic, historic and religious wealth, including Bizantine icons that were painted by the monastery monks, dating back to the period from the 6th to the 9th centuries A.D.

Among the rare acquisitions in the monastery, one can see the collection of the old manuscripts. It is kept in the monastery library that is considered the second largest library, after the Vatican library in Italy, in terms of number and value of manuscripts preserved. It houses more than three thousand manuscripts, one third of which is Greek while the rest are Arabic, Islamic, Coptic, Syriac, Slafonian, Georgian, Areminian and Ethiopian; all of a Christian content.

In addition, it houses historical manuscripts that serve as documents about emperors, chief monks, leaders and sultans. All these manuscripts date back to the period from the 4th to the 7th centuries A.D. Among the treasures found in the library is the time-honoured Syriac-registers that dates back to the year 400 A.D that was rewritten during the 7th and 8th centuries. Other collections of manuscripts that total about 5000 copies are preserved in the library, dating back to the early years after the invention of printing.

It goes without saying that the document of al-O'hda al-Mohamadeias, signed by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), is one of the most significant acquisitions in the library. In 625 AD, the Popes of the old monastery went to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in Al-Madina, asking for protection. By virtue of this document (Manuscript), the monastery was left in full peace under Arabs' authority.

On the other hand, the library also includes a protection edict, by Napoleon Bonaparte during the French occupation. By virtue of this edict, the monastery was given full protection. In addition, Napoleon set it incumbent upon himself to rebuild the monastery's northern fence after being demolished in 1798 because of torrential rains.