Saint Catherine's Monastery Site Features

The outer wall is made of squared blocks of local red granite is pierced with loopholes and bears, in places, various engraved Christian symbols: Maltese cross, monograms, etc. Small bronze cannons surmount an inner walkway.

The enclosure forms a rectangle measuring 85 meters by 74 meters, with the corners facing the four cardinal points. Its height varies between 12 and 15 meters, and its thickness reaches 1.65 meters in places. The enclosure houses 24 chapels and, above all, the Church of the Transfiguration

The Church of the Transfiguration has a basilica plan, an apse, and a narthex. To the right of the altar, under a baldachin, it houses a reliquary, a marble sarcophagus which preserves two relics of Saint Catherine, her head and her left hand19. The neoclassical bell tower, designed by the monk Gregorius, was erected in 1871 and houses nine bells, including an old wooden one, which were given by Tsar Alexander II of Russia. At the chevet level, an apsidal chapel (called the chapel of Buisson-Ardent) is, according to tradition, built on the exact spot where Moses received his calling, a small silver plaque recalling this episode. The old refectory, rectangular in plan, dates from the 16th century20.

Near the church, the monastery also houses the "well of Moses", which, according to a legendary tradition, is the place where the prophet met the daughters of Jethro.

The monastery has preserved a unique example of early medieval carpentry

Egypt's highest mountains surround the monastery with many smaller valleys running from the basin to the mountains in all directions. The monastery is located at an altitude of 1570m above sea level.

The high altitude of the monastery and the surrounding high mountains provide a pleasant climate, with refreshingly cool summer nights and an excellent spring, while winter days are cool for the region and nights could reach -14°C on rare occasions. Infrequent snowfalls in Santa Catarina occur during the winter months of December, January and February, however, snow has also occurred in autumn and spring. It has the coldest nights of any locality in Egypt and ts humidity is very low.

A small town with hotels and swimming pools, called Santa Catarina, has grown up around the monastery.