They have been classified as a World Heritage Site by Unesco since 1988. They are constructions on the summit of gray rock masses (made of sandstone and conglomerate ), carved by erosion and called Meteora . They are located at a height of 600 meters and have been inhabited since the 14th century.
These Orthodox Christian monasteries are an important site of Greek Orthodox monasticism .
The rock formations where the monasteries were built would be according to ancient Christian writings "the rocks sent from heaven to earth" to allow the Greeks to retreat and pray.
Geological subsidence
At the site of these imposing rock masses was, hundreds of thousands of years ago, a great river that flowed into the Gulf of Thessaloniki . When this river found a new outlet in the Aegean Sea , this massif, under the action of erosion and earthquakes, sank and gave birth to this strange landscape.
The Meteora Caves were continuously inhabited between 50,000 to 5,000 years ago. The oldest structure is a wall of stone blocks that closed the entrance to the cave of Teopetra , made 23,000 years ago, probably as protection against low temperatures (an ice age was taking place), in addition to finding various artifacts from the Paleolithic era and Neolithic .
Meteora is not mentioned in Greek literature or in any of its classical myths . The first evidence of human occupation after prehistory was a group of ascetic monks who, in the 9th century, moved to the historic peaks. They inhabited small hollows and fissures in the rocks, some up to 550 meters high. This allowed the monks to lead a completely isolated and solitary life, meeting only on Sundays and special days to pray in the chapel at the foot of a rock known as Dhoupiani .
At the beginning of the 11th century, the monks began to inhabit the interior of the Meteora caves. However, the monasteries did not begin to be built until the 14th century, when the religious had to take refuge from the numerous attacks of the Ottoman Empire in Greece.
The exact date of the establishment of the monasteries is unknown. In the late 11th and early 12th centuries, a rudimentary monastic structure called the Stagoi skete ( Kalambaka ) was built around the church of Theotokos . In the late 12th century, an ascetic community began to flock to Meteora.
In 1344, Athanasius Koinotivis from Mount Athos arrived with a group of followers in Meteora. Between 1356 and 1372, he founded the monastery of the Great Meteor in an ideal location, since the monks were sure of possible political quarrels and kept access controlled. It is located 613 meters above sea ??level and hides a Byzantine- style church that houses the relics of the founder and some valuable polychrome frescoes that relate the persecutions and martyrdoms suffered by Christians.. The only way to enter was by climbing a large staircase, which the monks could fold back when they felt threatened.
In the late 14th century, the rule of the Byzantine Empire in Greece was threatened by Ottoman explorers who yearned for control of the fertile plain of Thessaly . The hermits, seeking refuge from the Turkish advance, decided that the rocks of Meteora were the ideal place. Around 24 monasteries were built, of which six are still in operation, four male, two female, with less than ten members in each.
In 1517 Theophanes of Crete built the Varlaam monastery , which claimed to house a finger of the Apostle John and the shoulder blade of the Apostle Andrew . Access to the monasteries was deliberately difficult. The way to reach these positions was through ladders and, until the seventeenth century, the way to provide food and attract worshipers was through baskets and ropes.
In 1921, the Romanian Queen Consort Maria of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha visited Meteora, becoming the first woman to be allowed access to the Great Meteor monastery. In the 1920s an improvement of access to the monasteries was made: steps were carved into the cliffs and a bridge was built in the nearby plain.
A large number of the monasteries were destroyed or ruined in the course of World War II by German troops , due to the Greek resistance taking refuge in them during the invasion of Greece and subsequent military occupation
Only six monasteries are currently in use (four are male and two are female):
Monasterio de San Nicolás.
Monasterio de San Esteban.
Monastery of the Holy Trinity
Monasterio del Gran Meteoro or the Transfiguration.
Roussanou Monastery
Varlaam Monastery
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