The oldest monastery in the world

Saint Catherine Monastery, Egypt

The Monastery of St. Catherine is located in the south of Sinai in Egypt, below Mount Catherine, the highest mountain in Egypt, near Mount Moses.
It is said to be the oldest monastery in the world. It is a large tourist attraction frequented by tourist groups from all parts of the world. It is a retreat run by monks of the Greek Orthodox Church who do not speak Arabic. They are not Egyptians or Arabs and do not follow the Patriarchate of Alexandria, Although the guardianship of the monastery was for long periods of the Russian Orthodox Church.

The monastery contains a historical church with ancient gifts of kings and princes, including silver chandeliers and a well that they say is the well of Moses. It was also built around a tree that is said to be the Moses tree, which was set on fire when Moses came to speak to his Lord,They said that there were attempts to cultivate it outside the monastery unsuccessful and it did not grow anywhere else outside the monastery. The monastery is a piece of historical art. There are Arabic mosaics, Russian and Greek icons, oil paintings and engravings on wax and others. The monastery also contains a library of manuscripts which is said to be the second largest manuscript library after the Vatican.

Check Prophet Moses Mountain near by