Sinai (mountain)
| Sinai | ||
|---|---|---|
 Pilgrimage and summit in the background |
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| height | 2285 m | |
| location | Egypt , Sinai Peninsula | |
| Mountains | Sinai massif | |
| Coordinates | 28 ° 32 '21 " N , 33 ° 58' 29" E | |
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The Mount Sinai ( Hebrew הר סיני) is located on the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula and is 2285 m high. His name is Arabic جبل موسَى Ǧabal Mūsā 'Mount of Moses' (also Ǧabal Sīnāʾ /جبل سيناء).
Route to the summit
At St. Catherine's Monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai in about 1,585 meters above sea level, the regular road ends. From here, the climb, which is 700 meters in altitude and around 2500 m long, can only be continued on foot or by camel. On the last, much steeper section, about 300 m below the summit, Elijah Mulde, where the biblical prophet has withdrawn from time to time and is said to have been addressed by God, 750 steps have to be overcome. Almost 4,000 steps have to be climbed during the entire ascent.
On the top there is a mosque in the 12th century as well as Moses and the Holy Trinity consecrated chapel which in 1934 on the ruins of the reign of Emperor Justinian I. 548-565 built basilica was built. In winter it can snow at this altitude.
Pilgrims and tourists like to climb the mountain in the dark towards the end of the night - sometimes in a crowd - in order to experience the sunrise on the summit.
Religious meaning
The exact location of biblical Sinai is not known for certain. From the 4th century it was equated with the Jebel Musa (Mosesberg), the second highest point on the Sinai peninsula (the Katharinenberg is about 350 m higher). Since then, monks have lived at the foot of Mount Sinai who built the Katharinenkloster in the 6th century. Rock inscriptions from the 1st century BC BC show that there was also a pilgrimage shrine of the Nabataeans there.
