To Sinai via the Red Sea, Tor, and Wady Hebran. Buttresses of the exterior wall Monastery of St. Catherine

Title from: Catalogue of photographs & lantern slides ... [1936?].
Caption on negative: Buttresses of the exterior wall.
Identified as the Monastery of St. Catherine based on captions for negatives with neighboring numbers.
Date from Matson LOT cards.
Photograph taken from Wadi El Dier (Biblical Holy Valley) at the foot of and between Gebel El Dier (Selib-Baraka) and Gebel Armaziya, looking southwest and showing the southeastern wall 'eastern wall for simplification' in the foreground from right to the centre, and the summit of Gebel Armaziya and the naqb of Siqqat Armaziya in the centre and the naqb of Siqqat Sydina Musa to the summit of Mount Sinai (Biblical Sinai) to the left, all in the background. (A. Shams, Sinai Peninsula Research, 2018)
Siqqat Sydina Musa is recognised as the traditional naqb followed by prophet Moses to the summit of Biblical Mount Sinai. The monks paved the path from Saint Catherine Monastery to the summit using 3,750 rock steps in 4th-7th centuries CE. Saint Catherine Monastery was constructed between 530 and 545 CE by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I (527-565 CE). "The fortified enclosure of Sinai Monastery is square. "The length of the northwestern wall 'western wall for simplification' is 74.80 m, the northeastern wall 'northern wall for simplification' is 87.50 m long, the southeastern wall 'eastern wall for simplification' is 73.50 m and the southwestern wall 'southern wall for simplification' is 80.50 m. The thickness of the southwestern 'southern' wall is 2.75 m, while the other walls are narrower, reaching an average of 2 m" (Uzi Dahari, 2000). The ruins of the Byzantine guarding structure was excavated adjacent to the eastern wall of the monastery in the same place where it was mentioned by Abu Saleh the Armenian in 12th century CE as Dar 'Abed (the house of the slaves, referring to the Romanian soldiers). The Gebaliya Bedouins are the descendants of 200 soldiers and their families (from Alexandria and the Black Sea 'El Lakhmyen') sent by Justinian to protect the monastery and the southern caravan route to the Levant. An earthquake partially destroyed the eastern and western walls in 1354 CE and were later restored by the bishop of Petra. Napoleon's commander in Egypt re-built the northern wall of the monastery in 1801 CE, after it had partially collapsed due to a flashflood following heavy rain in 1798 CE. (A. Shams, Sinai Peninsula Research, 2018)
Gift; Episcopal Home; 1978.