Meteora, Greece.
Meteora is located in Thessaly, central Greece. The area is breathtaking with its granite towers, and what sets it apart is that monasteries are built on top of these towers. This is a popular hiking location due to the high number of peaks to summit. Greece is a popular tourist destination, but the main attractions have always been its historical landmarks and beauty. This is a great option for anyone wanting for some adventure in addition to sightseeing.
Historians and geologists began to speculate about how and why these rocks, known as Meteora, formed. Everything began around a thousand years ago, according to the prevailing view of Meteora formation held by one of the German geologists Philipson, who visited Greece in the late nineteenth century. Based on his observations, he determined that this region was the estuary of a large river that had been submerged by a narrow and deep stretch of the sea for millions of years. The river flows deposited materials, stones, and other things transported to the estuary from northern ancient Central Europe. Deltaic cones developed as the elements accumulated. The central region of today’s Europe was elevated 25-30 million years ago, following numerous decades of geological upheavals. That is how Tempi opened, allowing water to flood into today’s Aegean Sea. During the tertiary period, during the alpine orogenies, the solid volumes of the “rocks” were severed from the newly created mountain chain of Pindos, and over time, the plain of the Pinios river formed between them. These rocks grew into their current shape during millions of years of continuous erosion by wind and rain, as well as other geological changes. Meteora’s holes, fissures, and summits protected the area from raids by many conquerors and travelers.
Excavations and research have discovered petrified diatoms, providing a deeper understanding of Palaeoclimate and climate change. Radiocarbon dating reveals human presence going back 50,000 years. The cave was once accessible to the public, however it is now closed indefinitely for safety reasons.
Monasteries
Greek literature and mythology, inspite of being a resourceful guide to History at times, we see that the Meteora are mentioned in neither. The exact date of the establishment of the monasteries is unknown. Hermits sought tranquility and peace of mind here, hence also giving the peaks a religious meaning. The first people to inhabit Meteora after the Neolithic Era were an ascetic group of hermit monks who, in the 9th century AD, moved up to the ancient pinnacles. They led peaceful, serene lives in the hollows and fissures in the rock towers, which very high enough above the plain to keep any intruders, wanted or unwanted, away. The high altitudes of 1800ft above the plain and unruly ways discouraged anyone wanting to seemingly venture out. They liked their lives of solitudes, limiting their interactions to just on Sundays and specials days, all solely dedicated to worship and pray in a chapel that was built at the foot of a rock known as Dhoupiani.
As early as the 11th century, monks occupied the caverns of Meteora. With an increase in number of Turkish attacks on Greece , the monks hid in the monasteries that were not built until the 14th century. Naturally, as they no longer felt or were safe there, the access to the top was via removable ladders or windlass. Today, that is not the case as steps have been carved into the rock, making the path up much easier as compared to what the monks had to trek through. Of the 24 monasteries, only 6 (four male, two female) are still functioning, with each housing fewer than 10 individuals.
By the end of the 12th century, an ascetic community had found their way to Meteora. In 1344, Athanasios Koinovitis from Mount Athos brought a group of followers to Meteora. From 1356 to 1372, he founded the great Meteoron monastery on the Broad Rock, a safer option for the monks as they were now safe from political upheaval and had complete control of the entry to the monastery. The monks now had the liberty of living freely once again and kept a long ladder to the place where they stayed, one that they pulled up any time they felt like their lives were at danger.
At the end of the 14th century, the hermit monks, seeking a retreat from the expanding Turkish occupation, found the rock pillars of Meteora to be an ideal refuge as they were even more inaccessible. They believed and knew that despite the attacks, and the chances of their survival getting slimmer, this was one place that they could rest themselves in without having to be constantly on the lookout. There were a certain amount of secrecy that the monks needed desperately that this site provided. For the monks who loved their solitude, all this movement and hiding definitely disturbed their livelihood and way of life. More than 20 monasteries were built in beginning in the 14th century out of which six remain today.
In 1517 Theophanes built the monastery of Varlaam, which was reputed to house the finger of St John and the shoulder blade of St Andrew.
To get to the monasteries were quite a task as the ropes and the ladders were the only ways provided then. These were used to haul up people and goods that the monks required and these methods of transport were not safe and required quite a leap of faith – the ropes were replaced, so the story goes, only “when the Lord let them break”.In the words of UNESCO, “The net in which intrepid pilgrims were hoisted up vertically alongside the 373 metres (1,224 ft) cliff where the Varlaam monastery dominates the valley symbolizes the fragility of a traditional way of life that is threatened with extinction.”
Until the 17th century, the primary means of conveying goods and people from these eyries was by means of baskets and ropes.In 1921, Queen Marie of Romania visited Meteora, becoming the first woman ever allowed to enter the Great Meteoron monastery.
In the 1920s there was an improvement in the arrangements. Steps were cut into the rock, making the complex accessible via a bridge from the nearby plateau. During World War II the site was bombed. Many art treasures were stolen.
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