St Catherine

St Catherine

Sinai desert
In the middle of the most unhospitable desert of the world, in an ambient being shaken so often by bombs and missiles, crossed by heavy military vehicles and armies of attacking soldiers, stands imperious and fearless for centuries what could have been another of the world's wonders. The Orthodox monastery of St Catherine. Build by the Byzantine emperor Justinian, a masterpiece of Justinian architecture, between 550 to 560, the monastery library preserves the second largest collection of religious codices and manuscripts in the world, outnumbered only by Vatican Library. It also houses precious mosaics and frescoes and also the biggest collection of icons in the world. But to my opinion the most outstanding feature of this complex is it's unique location as it arises suddenly into vision, from no where, in the middle of the desert with an imposing wall surounding and protecting it.
I arrived to it fairly early in the morning from Sharm El Sheikh, after a tiring taxi trip and a driver not so obliging for... stops and photography while crossing the desert but the sight of the monastery bathed under the morning sun rays really compensated for everything..
I chose to upload this shot as it particularly shows part of the impressing wall.
(NIKON F5 with a very fast film ILFORD HP5 that makes the grain evident but ..not harmful to my opinion.The negatives were scanned to digital later).