CONVENT OF
542
are a close but coarse imitation of the latest period of Egyptian
sculpture, such as is seen at Philae, and in several temples in Nubia.
The dome over the altar still remains as it was constructed by
Justinian, whose portrait, together with that of his wife Theodora,
may yet be distinguished on the dome, together with a large picture ¬
of the transfiguration, in honour of which event the convent
was erected. An abundance of silver lamps, paintings, and portraits ¬
of saints adorn the walls round the altar ; among the latter is
a saint Christopher, with a dog’s head. The floor of the church is
finely paved with slabs of marble.
The church contains the coffin in which the bones of saint Catherine ¬
were collected from the neighbouring mountain of St.
Catherine, where her corpse was transported after her death by the
angels in the service of the monks. The silver lid of a sarcophagus
likewise attracts attention ; upon it is represented at full length the
figure of the empress Anne of Russia, who entertained the idea of
being interred in the sarcophagus, which she sent here ; but the
monks were disappointed of this honour. In a small chapel adjoining ¬
the church is shewn the place where the Lord is supposed
to have appeared to Moses in the burning bush; it is called Alyka
(ale), and is considered as the most holy spot in Mount Sinai.
Besides the great church, there are twenty-seven smaller churches
or chapels dispersed over the convent, in many of which daily masses ¬
are read, and in all of them at least one every Sunday.
The convent formerly resembled in its establishment that of
the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, which contains churches of various ¬
sects of Christians. Every principal sect, except the Calvinists ¬
and Protestants, had its churches in the convent of Sinai.
I was shewn the chapels belonging to the Syrians, Armenians,
Copts, and Latins, but they have long been abandoned by their
owners; the church of the Latins fell into ruins at the close of
