“Depiction of Mount Sinai on which our Lord gave his law to Moses” (A 1547 woodcut, published in Pierre Belon, Les Observations de plusieurs singularitez & choses memorables, trouvées en Grece, Asie, Judée, Egypte, Arabie, & autres pays estranges…, Paris, 1554)
This woodcut is one of the most detailed early views of the Monastery of St. Catherine and its environs. The church and the mosque (their positions are reversed) are visible within the fortified walls of the monastery. The garden and the cemetery are shown in the immediate vicinity. Directly above the monastery is Mt. Horeb (Jebel Sufsafa), conflated with Mt. Sinai (Jebel Musa), and the chapel (identified as St. Catherine) perched on the apex. The steep path leading from the gate of the Monastery of St. Catherine to the top of the mountain passes through an arch in the vicinity of the hermitage of St. Elijah (Prophet Elijah). The artist has accurately depicted the peak of Mt. Sinai (Mt. St. Catherine), which is the highest in the vicinity of the monastery.