Mount Catherine
How Is Mount Catherine Your Way to Walk Through The Angels Amid Charming Nature?
Take the eye bird and stand from a height of 2.629 m above sea level, where you will be at the highest spot in the whole of Egypt, the cradle of civilization. You find yourself inside a jewel as the ice covers the streets and the trees in a charming view that will shine in your eyes in the winter, or the melting of the ice in the summer will perform valleys, and the trees become vibrant green, which seems like as a live art painting.
So, this charming nature invites you to follow the holy steps in Mount Catherine. While you see all of Egypt in one magical view, looking down on an alluring landscape that will print off your mind, you will stand in the same spot the early monks walked to honor the body of Saint Catherine after the Romans killed her, and where the angels had carried her body and laid it down on top of the mountain peak. How that!
The Secret behind Mount Catherine
The mountain was named after Saint Catherine, one of the most important saints in Europe and had a significant role in the spread of Christianity in Egypt. She died as a sacrifice in Alexandria by the Romans, and her body disappeared from Alexandria. Still, the monks of a monastery found her body on top of the mountain, believing that the angels had placed her body on the top of the hill. The monks who had seen the body of Saint Catherine were also escapers from Roman oppression. Monasticism meant living as a monk, escaping from the Roman violence in the 4th Century AD. So, the early Christians fled to remote regions of Egypt, especially the Firan Valley, El-Tur, and Mount Sinai, selecting far places away from Roman persecution and near water sources.
What Will The Road Of The Monks Lead You In Mount Catherine?
Amid this enchanting nature, while the rare plants decorate each street with a beautiful view to meet approximately 472 rare plant species, in addition to 19 endemic plant species that do not grow anywhere on the globe except in Mount Catherine, you can walk on the same way of the early monks to arrive at The chapel of Saint Catherine where the monks found her body in this exact spot. Near the chapel, you can relax in the natural and religious history of Mount St. Catherine, as there are two rooms where visitors can stay.
Wild Life around Mount Catherine
While you are charmed with the beauty of wild roses and the Sinai Pink Sparrows and the blackbirds are singing in your ears as they fly above the fruit trees scattered everywhere on Mount Catherine, you may find animals that inhabit this mountain, which is considered a natural reserve since 1996, seeing on your way deer, hares, and Blanford’s fox. You will find yourself hurrying up to open this door in the center of a glorious historical building. To enter, three heavy granite columns separate the corridors from each other. Their walls are decorated with paintings of the saints from top to bottom, and there is a mihrab containing a wonderful ornate casket bearing the remains of Saint Catherine. The Transfiguration Church is the focal point of the monastery built by order of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian in the 6th century.
Catherine Church
The church contains one of the most beautiful mosaic paintings, the Transfiguration Panel, which dates back to 542 AD and depicts the Transfiguration of Christ surrounded by prophets, saints, and apostles. Once you go out of this church, going through the road where 200 Roman soldiers were standing to protect the church against the attacks of the Bedouins, and after crossing the two towers that were placed on this church to secure it also, you will see a holy light coming from another sacred area you will find a monastery, including the chapel known as the Virgin Mary, which is Princess Helena Monastery, the mother of Constantine the Great.
The Ten Commandments
When you come close to being in this spot, know that you stand where it is believed that Prophet Moses received The Ten Commandments from God. Sanctity afflicts everyone who approaches it; it is the only tree in the world that does not grow anywhere, and all attempts to plant it in any other soil have failed; it is the sacred burning bush tree. When the Prophet Moses was looking for firewood for warming, this tree glowed with the light of God, and God Almighty transfigured and spoke to the Prophet.
The Museum
While you are in complete amazement standing in front of this holy tree, you will realize a set of stairs that lead to the monastery museum, also known as the sacred treasury. The museum includes various collections of religious, artistic, and symbolic manuscripts and a beautiful display of treasures dating back to ancient times. In the museum’s first room, you can see one of the more symbols of fame in the monastery, a painting dating back to the 12th century AD. On the lower floor of the monastery, there is a group of parchments and rare manuscripts dating back to the oldest sacred book in the world.
In front of the Transfiguration Church, a distinctive Fatimid building will catch your eye, so you will come close and find a small mosque with a unique design amid all this ancient religious history. The mosque was built in 1106 AD during the reign of the Fatimid Caliph, the Commander of Ahkam Allah, to be a station for pilgrims on their way to Mecca, who left numerous memorial writings that are still on the mosque’s mihrab now.
Mosque inside the Monastery
The mosque’s layout is rectangular and is divided into six parts: semicircular arches of carved granite stone, three arches parallel to the qibla wall, the direction of a Muslim praying, and four perpendiculars to it. It has three main niches crowned with a four-center arch, as in the old part of the Azhar Mosque.
While you are amazed by these beautiful architectural details in the design at this holy spot, a wooden pulpit, a sign of beauty, will attract your eyes to confuse in its decorations. At the same time, the unique minaret that is made of granite stone embraces the tower of the church amidst a charming nature that captures hearts.
At this time, you will wish to know more about the secrets of this magical place as each inch will appear with a new surprise from nature, religions, and majestic history, to find a real treasure at this moment, as the monastery library will appear to you, to reveal more secrets. It contains many of the most excellent rare books in the world and many valuable ancient manuscripts totaling more than 2000 manuscripts, including Greek, Syriac, Persian, Amharic, Arabic, Turkish and Russian.
Notes You Need To Know When Climbing Mount Catherine
- It is preferable to climb Mount Catherine with a group and not alone; the climbing trip begins before dawn to watch the magic of sunrise from the summit or in the late afternoon to watch the gorgeous sunset. So, if you choose to see the sunset, bring a torch with you because the road will be dark and wear walking shoes suitable for long distances.
- The monastery is open to visitors from 9:00 until noon. Still, you have to realize that to enter the monastery, the arms and legs must be covered at the knee, and it is forbidden to enter there with trousers, short skirts, and kat, whether for females or males.
