Hidden in the dry Red Sea Mountains, St. Anthony Monastery was founded in 356 AD and has operated as a multi-faith Christian monastery for much of that time, though today it is exclusively Coptic. Relying on spring water for survival, the monastery operates as a self-sustained village complete with irrigated gardens, a bakery, and several churches.

(Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Egypt: Change Comes to a Changeless Land," March 1977, National Geographic magazine)