Middle of the Sky "Meteora, Thessaly, Greece" - A Tour Through Images
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The Metéora, literally "middle of the sky", "suspended in the air" or "in the heavens above" — is a formation of immense monolithic pillars and hills-like huge rounded boulders which dominate the area. Metéora is included on the UNESCO World Heritage List
It is also associated with one of the largest and most precipitously built complexes of Eastern Orthodox monasteries in Greece. The six monasteries are built on natural conglomerate pillars at the northwestern edge of the Plain of Thessaly near the Pineios river and Pindus Mountains in central Greece.
The exact date of the establishment of the monasteries is unknown. Caves in the vicinity of Metéora were inhabited continuously between 50,000 and 5,000 years ago. The oldest known example of a man-made structure, a stone wall that blocked two-thirds of the entrance to the Theopetra, was constructed 23,000 years ago, probably as a barrier against cold winds – the Earth was experiencing an ice age at the time and many artifacts have been found within the caves.
In the 9th century AD, an ascetic group of hermit monks moved up to the ancient pinnacles; they were the first people to inhabit Metéora since the Neolithic Era. They lived in hollows and fissures in the rock towers, some as high as 1800 ft (550m) above the plain.
At their peak in the sixteenth century there were 24 monasteries at Metéora in Greece. They were created to serve monks and nuns following the teachings of the Eastern Orthodox Church.
Today there are six still functioning, while the remainders are in largely in ruin. Most of these are perched on high cliffs, now accessible by staircases cut into the rock formations.
Of the six functioning monasteries, the Holy Monastery of St. Stephen and the Holy Monastery of Roussanou are inhabited by nuns while the remainders are inhabited by monks. The total monastic population of the Metéora monasteries in 2015 was 66, comprising 15 monks in four monasteries and 41 nuns in two monasteries.
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