Catherine's story on Wikipedia :
Catherine of Alexandria was a Christian martyr initially sentenced to death on the wheel. However, when this failed to kill her, she was beheaded. According to tradition, angels took her remains to Mount Sinai. Around the year 500, monks from the Sinai Monastery found her remains. Though it is commonly known as Saint Catherine's, the full, official name of the monastery is the Sacred and Imperial Monastery of the God-Trodden Mount of Sinai, and the patronal feast of the monastery is the Transfiguration. The relics of Saint Catherine of Alexandria were purported to have been miraculously transported there by angels and it became a favorite site of pilgrimage.
That mountain in the picture has many names such as Catherine mountain , Horeeb mountain or Moses mountain as muslims call it and it's the highest mountain in Egypt . One of the amazing things about this location is the harsh conditions of it's nature , hot dry weather and it's remote area in the middle of desert , however the monastery found many ways to adopt those conditions . Outside the monastery you can find cypress trees as you can see , also olive trees , small gardens , spinach farm , onions , honey cells and some goats . Inside the monastery there is a bakery that doesn't only feed the monastery but also feeds the whole community of that area . A number of Christian monks and muslim Bedouins meet every week to bake big amounts of bread enough for all people's needs .
Buildings which the monastery includes are considered so valuable heritage of the Byzantine architecture . The monastery library preserves very important old manuscripts and considered the second largest collection of early manuscripts after the Vatican library .
This is the monastery from inside (This is a direct link for a bigger size http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bWY0glwZJlo/S ... lAisle.jpg ) , Behind those columns on the right , there is a route and in the end of it you will find the remains of Saint Catherine bones that is considered very blessing and holy . They say that her remains heal from pains and permanently produce Waxy oil . There is also a tree outside the back door of the monastery , they call it tree of life that's holy and it's plants is very useful to health .
Finally the place is just amazing , spiritual and historical as you can smell the smelling of time on each of it's corners and one of the most memorable things which really amazed me personally , is a small mosque on the edge of the monastery that was built in the time of Fatimid era for non-Christians inhabitants .
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