Monastery of St. Anthony

In the Eastern Desert of Egypt, near the Red Sea, St. Anthony the Great spent the last decades of his life in a cave high on a mountain. His disciples settled at its foot, and the monastery they founded around 356 is counted the oldest in the world. Today it belongs to the Coptic Church. Pilgrims climb about 1,200 steps to St. Anthony’s cave above it.

• Date: 4th century