Strata: Special Collections

Some of the oldest surviving icons from the Byzantine world are on view at the Getty Center, offering a rare insight into monastic life at the remote, historic Saint Catherine’s monastery in Sinai, Egypt. The works on display, which were all commissioned by the monastery or received as gifts over more than a thousand years, include 43 icons—holy pictures or emblems regarded as sacred in the Eastern churches—and six manuscripts. The exhibition examines the enduring tradition of Saint Catherine’s in three sections: the icon as a holy object in the Orthodox Church; the role of the icon in prayer and liturgical rites; and Saint Catherine’s as a pilgrimage site.