Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Bell Tower
This was built in 1871. The
nine bells were donated by
Tsar Alexander II of Russia
and are nowadays rung only
on major religious festivals.
VISITORS' CHECKLIST
Road map
E6.
Sinai, 90 km (56
miles) W of Dahab and Nuweiba.
k
10 km (6 miles) NE of monas-
tery.
@
from Taba, Nuweiba or
Dahab to St Catherine's Village
(El-Milga), then taxi 3.5 km (2
miles). Petrol available at monas-
tery.
#
9am-noon Mon-Thu,
Sat.
ยข
Greek Orthodox hols.
Admission free, but offerings
welcome.
The Mosque
was created
in 1106 by converting a
chapel originally dedicated
to St Basil.
tery Gardens
rchard lies the
y, from which
nks' bones are
ally exhumed
nsferred to the
harnel House.
he elevated
ntrance
,
eached by a
ulley system,
sed to be the
nly access.
erground
was dug to store
ter from the
ry's springs.
St Catherine is one of the most popular of early Christian
female saints. Her legend, not recorded before the 10th
century, recounts that she was a virgin of noble birth,
martyred in Alexandria in the early 4th century. After being
tortured on a spiked
wheel (hence the
Catherine wheel), she
was beheaded. Her
body was then
transported by
angels to Sinai,
where it was
found, uncor-
rupted, some six
centuries later by
the local monks.
Well of Moses
One of the monastery's main
water sources, this is also known
as the Well of Jethro, as Moses is
said to have met his future wife,
Jethro's daughter, here.
Detail from icon showing angels setting
down the body of St Catherine in Sinai
