Monasteries

Exterior view showing a Bedouin woman standing by a tree, taken at St. Catherine's Monastery located at the foot of Mt. Sinai in Egypt. Photo described by Charles Thayer as "a bedouin woman in her best clothes including an elaborate silver breast plate, poses in the garden of the Monastery with her young daughter." Photograph taken as part of a trip author and diplomat Charles Thayer and his wife Cynthia took to the area in March 1961. Photos intended for possible magazine article. Original negatives are in the Harry S. Truman Library collection.

Partial view of a young Bedouin boy standing in the desert near St. Catherine's Monastery located in the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt. Charles Thayer describes as "a young Bedouin boy outside the Monastery." Photograph taken as part of a trip author and diplomat Charles W. Thayer and his wife Cynthia took in March 1961. Photos intended for a possible magazine article by Thayer. Original negatives are in the Harry S. Truman Library collection.

View of St. Catherine's Monastery, a Greek Orthodox site located at the foot of Mt. Sinai in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. Charles Thayer describes scene as "the interior of the Monastery from the visitor's gallery." Photograph taken as part of a trip diplomat and author Charles W. Thayer and his wife Cynthia took in March 1961. Photos intended for a possible magazine article by Thayer. Original negatives are in the collection of the Harry S. Truman Library.

View of St. Catherine's Monastery, a Greek Orthodox site located at the foot of Mt. Sinai in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. Charles Thayer describes as "the monastery from the hillside above it." Photograph taken as part of a trip diplomat and author Charles W. Thayer and his wife Cynthia took in March 1961. Photos intended for a possible magazine article by Thayer. Original negatives are in the Harry S. Truman Library collection.

Interior view of burial scene located in St. Catherine's Monastery, a Greek Orthodox site located at the foot of Mt. Sinai in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. Identified by Thayer as "the skulls of the deceased monks piled high in the Charnal House." Photograph taken as part of a trip diplomat and author Charles W. Thayer and his wife Cynthia took in March 1961. Photos intended for a possible magazine article by Thayer.

Courtyard view taken at St. Catherine's Monastery located at the foot of Mt. Sinai in the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt. Scene described by Charles Thayer as "an Acacia Bush said to have originated from the Burning Bush." Photograph taken as part of a trip author and diplomat Charles Thayer and his wife Cynthia took to the area in March 1961. Photos intended for possible magazine article. Original negatives are in the Harry S. Truman Library collection.

Exterior view of what is believed to be the Smolenskaya Church located within the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius Monastery in the town of Sergiev Posad (Zagorsk) just northeast of Moscow, Russia. According to Charles Thayer's curriculum vitae: "In 1955 I made an extended tour of European and Asiatic Russia and wrote a series for the Saturday Evening Post on post-Stalinist Soviet Union." Although photo is not identified, this photograph is believed to have been taken during that trip. Thayer mentions visit in his December 5, 1955 diary entry.

Exterior view of what is believed to be the Smolenskaya Church located within the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius Monastery in the town of Sergiev Posad (Zagorsk) just northeast of Moscow, Russia. According to Charles Thayer's curriculum vitae: "In 1955 I made an extended tour of European and Asiatic Russia and wrote a series for the Saturday Evening Post on post-Stalinist Soviet Union." Although photo is not identified, this photograph is believed to have been taken during that trip. Thayer mentions visit in his December 5, 1955 diary entry.

Exterior view of what is believed to be the Dormition Cathedral also called Assumption Cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Church located within the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius Monastery in the town of Sergiev Posad (Zagorsk) just northeast of Moscow, Russia. According to Charles Thayer's curriculum vitae: "In 1955 I made an extended tour of European and Asiatic Russia and wrote a series for the Saturday Evening Post on post-Stalinist Soviet Union." Although photo is not identified, this photograph is believed to have been taken during that trip.

Exterior view of what is believed to be the Dormition Cathedral also called Assumption Cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Church located within the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius Monastery in the town of Sergiev Posad (Zagorsk) just northeast of Moscow, Russia. According to Charles Thayer's curriculum vitae: "In 1955 I made an extended tour of European and Asiatic Russia and wrote a series for the Saturday Evening Post on post-Stalinist Soviet Union." Although photo is not identified, this photograph is believed to have been taken during that trip.