RELIGION-EGYPT: Now UNESCO Does its Bit for Moses

By Cam McGrath Reprint | | Print |

Cam McGrath

SINAI PENINSULA, Egypt, Aug 9 2002 (IPS) - A monastery near the southern tip of the Sinai peninsula in Egypt that was once offered protection by the Prophet Mohammed now has UNESCO on its side.

The recent addition of Saint Katherine’s Monastery to the list of sites protected by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) has come to the rescue of both the ancient monastery and the adjacent Jebel Musa mountain, holy to Jews, Christians and Muslims.

Jebel Musa is believed to be the location of Mount Sinai, the place where according to all three religions, God appeared to Moses and issued to him the Ten Commandments. At the foot of this 2,244-metre mountain lies the Greek Orthodox Monastery of Saint Katherine, a fortified Byzantine basilica that has remained open continuously in barren wilderness for almost 1,500 years.

The world heritage committee of UNESCO decided in June to add the monastery and 601 square kilometres surrounding it to the world heritage list, bringing to 730 the number of sites it recognises to be of “outstanding universal value”.

Occupying the site where according to belief God appeared to Moses as a burning bush, the monastery includes the ornate Church of the Transfiguration, a library containing more than 6,000 books and manuscripts, and the world’s richest collection of Byzantine icons.

Its courtyard contains a shrub that neither blooms nor bears fruit, and is said to have grown from a sprig of the burning bush.

The site includes also a small mosque built in the 11th century, apparently to keep Muslim rulers from objecting to a Christian monastery. The mosque is not used much.

Despite the monastery’s remote location, it receives about 800 tourists and pilgrims a day, many of who climb Jebel Musa and spend the night near its summit.

A dozen or so Greek monks live in the monastery. “We limit tourist visits to between 9 am and noon so that the monks can perform their duties undisturbed,” says a monk.

St Katherine’s Monastery has enjoyed protection in all sorts of ways over the centuries. Its massive stone walls were constructed in AD 530 on the order of the Roman Emperor Justinian to protect its monks and its spiritual treasures from marauding desert tribes.

In AD 625, a delegation of monks went to Medina, where the Prophet Mohammed signed a document offering his protection to the monastery. A copy of that document is on display in the monastery’s icon museum.

Centuries later Napoleon pledged his protection, as another document testifies. In 1801 he fortified its crumbling walls.

Modern efforts to conserve the monastery and its environs began in 1996, when the European Union (EU) and the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA) established Saint Katherine’s Protectorate. Covering 4,300 square kilometres around the monastery, the protectorate aims to conserve the natural and cultural integrity of the area and to regulate its development.

The EU committed six million dollars for conservation studies, infrastructure, equipment and management costs until the end of this year, says John Grainger, project manager of the Saint Katherine Development Project affiliated to the protectorate.

“Our mandate doesn’t actually cover the monastery itself,” he says, “but what we have done is restore the area around it, especially Jebel Musa.”

The biggest challenge lay in removing centuries of accumulated garbage left by tourists and pilgrims. In some areas this was more than four metres high. Local people were hired to transport about 17 tonnes of garbage on camels to a nearby landfill site. Seven dry composting toilets were built on the mountain and more than 100 garbage bins placed along its signposted trails.

“We hope to restore the top of the mountain to a pristine state,” says Grainger. The five cafeterias cluttering the top of Jebel Musa will soon be relocated 300 metres below the summit, he says.

A tourist centre will be set up at the entrance of the valley leading to the monastery. It will include parking space for the dozens of tourist buses that currently use a small lot next to the ancient site.

The end of EU funding means “we are now in a critical phase,” says Mohammed Shaker, general manager of the protectorate. “The Egyptian government is already fully in charge of all the expenses and costs needed to carry on the project.”

But there is a difference. “We used to work on a more flexible system where allocating money required only a signature,” he says. “Now we must deal with the bureaucracy, and people have to be trained in the Egyptian system, which is very different. This is one of the major challenges.”

But Shaker is optimistic that the government can sustain the protectorate through an annual budget allocation and a proposed entrance fee. The UNESCO decision to add the monastery and Gebel Musa to its world heritage list will help, he says.

“It will add a layer of protection to the area because we had very difficult moments when we were trying to regulate uncontrolled development in the region and establish a protected area,” he says. “Having it as a world heritage site will give us more power to do our work.”