Saint Catherine Monastery Library

The library of Saint Catherine’s Monastery is one of the world’s most important historic monastic manuscript collections. The monastery preserves thousands of manuscripts and early printed books in Greek, Arabic, Syriac, Georgian, Armenian, Coptic, Hebrew and other languages, reflecting centuries of scholarship and religious life in Sinai. The collection is part of a living monastery rather than a public lending library, and ordinary monastery visitors should not assume unrestricted access to the manuscript rooms. Experience Egypt identifies the library as one of the monastery’s major treasures, while public-facing displays of manuscripts and sacred art may be encountered through associated museum spaces.