The Holy Monastery of Saint Catherine at the foot of Mount Sinai in Egypt, the world's oldest continuously operating monastery, contains works of art and historic documents of tremendous beauty and importance including icons, wall paintings, and mosaics. In an unprecedented exhibition, the J. Paul Getty Museum transported some of the world's most precious icons 8,000 miles across the globe in order to share these rare treasures with the public in Holy Image/Hallowed Ground: Icons from Sinai.

The loans were made possible in part by the already-established relationship of the Getty and Saint Catherine's through grants to the monastery and the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities by the Getty Foundation, as well as work within the monastery by the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI).

Together, the Foundation and the GCI provided the initial funding and conservation work for one of the most famous mosaics of early Byzantine art, the Transfiguration, located in the apse over the high altar in the monastery's basilica. In addition, the Getty Research Institute (GRI) contributed to further scholarly research in the area by focusing the corresponding scholar year on the theme of Religion and Ritual.

It takes a special organization like the Getty with a wide range of resources to protect the world's artistic legacy and share that knowledge with all.

The Holy Monastery of Saint Catherine, Sinai, Egypt. Photography by Bruce M. White, 2005