Saint Catherine's Monastery

This monastery used to house hundreds of bibles (scrolls) and holy writings by saints representing Africa and Asia. Some have been taken within the last 200 years by European and American and west Asian organizations such as The British Library, Imperial Russian Government, Library of Congress, National Library of Israel, EMEL (UCLA), Ligatus Research Centre (University of the Arts London). One of hundreds of examples of early Christian collection of scrolls. In general monks between Africa and Asia transcribed and maintained Jewish and Christian literature. Some were burned or destroyed by Muslims or other invading or brutal parties. Maybe the oldest extant Syriac translation is Codex Sinaiticus Syriacus from late 4th century.