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The Egyptian government’s ‘Great Transfiguration Project’ for the UNESCO World Heritage site of Mount Sinai – the location of the 6th century Monastery of St Catherine – has caused international concern, and calls for the area to be placed on the List of World Heritage Sites in Danger. A luxury resort, with roads, five hotels, ‘wellness’ retreats and other recreational amenities, and a proposed cable car up Mount Moses, is being constructed on the Plain of el-Raha at one of the world’s most sacred religious sites. While these plans will make the site more accessible to tourists, there are concerns that the development has disfigured the natural beauty of this once-remote sacred site, and endangered the way of life of the monastery and the local Bedouin people.
Text: Sarah Griffiths / Images: Ben Hoffman
