Library of Saint Catherines Monastery

Sinai, Egypt. Founded 565.

• Type: Monastic
• City: Sinai
• Country: Egypt
• Founded: 565

Overview

Inside the fortified walls of Saint Catherines Monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai sits what is often called the oldest continually operating library in the world, built up since the monastery was founded under Emperor Justinian in the sixth century. Its manuscripts in Greek, Syriac, Arabic, Georgian and other languages are said to be second only to the Vatican Library in early codices. Constantin von Tischendorf removed most of the Codex Sinaiticus from here in the nineteenth century, and multispectral imaging now recovers erased palimpsest texts.