Mount Sinai

Pilgrimage and peaks in the background

The Mount Sinai (Hebrew הר סיני Her Sinei, without separation between the last two vowels ) rises on the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula and is 2285 m high. It is called in Arabic جبل موسى Gabal Musa, Mount Moses ' (also Jabal Sīnā ' / جبل سيناء ), the Nabataeans called him around 100 BC Jebel Musa ( Mount Moses ).

Route to the top

At St. Catherine's Monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai in about 1585 meters above sea level ends the regular road. From here, the altitude of 700 m above writhing and approximately 2500 m long climb can be continued only on foot or by camel. In the past, much steeper section, approximately from the lying approximately 300 m below the summit Elijah dump, where the biblical prophet is said to have temporarily withdrawn and was then approached by God, 750 rock-cut steps must be overcome. During the whole ascent almost 4000 stairs steps to climb.

At the summit there is a mosque in the 12th century and a Moses and the Holy Trinity chapel dedicated to, which was erected in 1934 on the ruins of a built by the emperor Justinian I. 548-565 Basilica. In winter it can also occur at this level to snowfall, which can be dangerous in a climb with rudimentary equipment.

The mountain is of pilgrims and tourists eager to end the night in the dark - at times in large crowds - climbed to experience the sunrise at the summit.

Religious significance

The exact location of the biblical Sinai is not known for sure. From the 4th century it was the Jebel Musa ( Moseberg ), the second highest point of the Sinai Peninsula ( St. Catherine mountain is higher by about 350 m ) was made. At the foot of Mount Sinai since living monks who built in the 6th century St. Catherine's Monastery. Rock inscriptions dating from the 1st century BC, however, show that there was a pilgrimage shrine of the Nabataeans.

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