Since Saudi Arabia relaxed rules and expanded visas for tourists in 2019, Christians have been increasingly visiting the country, drawn by word of mouth and promotional YouTube videos, in search of Mount Sinai, where the Bible recounts God revealing the Ten Commandments to Moses.
For many centuries people have believed the location to be in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. Catherine, the wife of the Eastern Roman emperor Justinian, is said to have journeyed throughout the region and identified the site of Mount Sinai. A monastery bearing her name was built there in 550 C.E., and it has served as the presumed location of Mount Sinai ever since.
