For the first time St Catherine’s treasures will be shown in a unique exhibition in Los Angeles.  The monks have agreed to lend 52 of the monastery's most valuable objects to the exhibition opening on the 14th November at the J. Paul Getty Museum. The exhibition is called "Holy Image, Hallowed Ground: Icons From Sinai" and will present 43 icons from the monastery's 2,000-piece collection.

St. Catherine's has the world's largest collection of Byzantine icons, paintings of saints and other sacred subjects, illuminated manuscripts, and handwritten texts, second in number and importance only to the Vatican's trove.  The Los Angeles show is a landmark event and a feat of international diplomacy, organized by Kristen M. Collins, the Getty's assistant curator of manuscripts, and Robert S. Nelson, an art historian at Yale University, in collaboration with St. Catherine's and the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Egypt.
Father Justin a monk at the monastery said "This is the first exhibition that is comprehensive and devoted exclusively to the monastery here in Sinai," he also states that  "Considering the complexity and the difficulty and the cost of such an exhibition, I don't envision that it will be equaled."  Asked why the Getty was chosen he replies "This is a very special exhibition,"  "It takes resources, and it takes enthusiasm. They have both at the Getty. I don't know where else you would find them."