St. Catherine's Monastery

Description

“Nothing could have prepared me for the feelings I actually felt once I’d come face-to-face with St. Catherine’s of Sinai. The Monastery stood more like a castle, less like a convent: towering mountains all around, a wild, natural beauty.” — Lizy Manola

Stepping inside the heavy Justinian door of St. Catherine’s Monastery and finding yourself walking through its narrow streets is an experience impossible to forget—and to replicate. The towers, cells, chapels, Katholikon (the church), gallery and sacristy are all safely enclosed within the walls, where elder monks, hermits, scholars and writers have left their mark over the years.

This living, breathing Byzantine UNESCO World Heritage site at the base of Mount Sinai in Egypt embraces three monotheistic religions—Judaism, Islam and Christianity—and is a citadel of Hellenism that has now been standing in the desert for nearly fifteen centuries. It was here that, in about 545 CE, in the valley of the Bush, Emperor Justinian built this
temple to ensure the safety of pilgrims and monks. Located at the very place where God appeared to Moses in the Burning Bush, it was and still is an ark of letters and culture, where the Greek language has never since ceased to be spoken.

Greek photographer Lizy Manola has gained exclusive access to St. Catherine’s, photographing its inhabitants, their daily life and the most valuable relics the Monastery is home to.

Featuring never-before-seen photography, this volume narrated by His Eminence Damianos, Archibishop of Sinai, Feran and Raitho and Nikolaos L. Fyssas is complemented by six gatefolds, taking readers on a unique journey through the
Sinai Peninsula.

About the photographer:

Lizy Manola is a Greek-born photographer. After studying photography in Athens while attending university, she freelanced and shot numerous documentary photo stories. Over the last ten years, she has traveled to and worked in places around the world where culture and everyday life meet to preserve the local authenticity, including Egypt. She is now involved in a long-term personal project about religious ceremonies in one-of-a-kind worship places and has exhibited her work in Athens and other locations worldwide. She is also the author of Ethiopian Highlands (Assouline, 2014).