One way to visit Meteora is through Kalambaka.
All the way from Trikala small side-roads lead to many villages
and old monasteries. Best known among these is Vytouma
Monastery, on a picturesque landscape near Peristera
village at the foot of Mt Koziakas. The monastery is known for
its handwoven fabrics, especially sacerdotal robes.
The small town of Kalambaka is an important stop on our way to Meteora.
It is built at the foot of the majestic grey rocks, at the point where Pinios
river flows down from the Pindus range.
In Kalambaka one should not miss the cathedral church of the
Dormition of the Virgin (first half of the 12th century), built
on a low hill. The interior contains many paintings, and
particularly frescoes (1573), by the Cretan monk Neophytes, son
of the Cretan hagiographer Theophanes Strelitzas Bathas. The marble pulpit,
marble chest and synthrone in the Sanctuary are very
remarkable.
The chapel of All Saints, with its 18th century wall
paintings, and the church of St John the Precursor (Prodromos)
built with materials from an ancient temple and bearing Roman inscriptions on
its walls, are also worth a visit.
The Meteora monasteries rise at the centre of Greece,
where Pinios river emerges from the deep canyons of the Pindus
range and surges into the Thessalian plain.
These are gigantic rocks etched by time into a variety of
shapes; grey stalagmites rising towards the sky, they appear as
nature's gift to the pious who, driven by faith, have opted for solitude and a
life of worship.
The Monasteries, with their wooden galleries and corniced
rooftops, crown the summits of these formidable pinnacles. Precariously
hanging over the sinister abysses, with the Pindus range at
their back and the vast plain, woods, gorges and picturesque villages below,
these unworldly hermitages compose one of the most breathtaking sites
on earth.
In the late Byzantine period and during Ottoman rule this
monastic community became a sanctuary of the persecuted. On these barren and
inaccessible rocks a centre of Byzantine art was created.
The history of
the Meteora monastic community begins in the 11th century.
During the 9th century hermits settled in the caves and crevices of the rocks.
On Sundays and important holidays they gathered in Doupiani,
near Kastraki (where the monastery and church of the Virgin
Mary was later built), to read mass. As monks increased, the cloisters
of Doupiani and Stagi were created.
The development of the community, however, may be more thoroughly traced from
the 14th century onwards when the first monasteries were established. Between
1356 and 1372 the monk Athanasius founded what was to become
the most important of all the Great Meteoron at Platis
Lithos. Athanasius imposed very strict rules on the community,
including the exclusion of women from the area.
In 1388 John Uresis, a disciple of Athanasius and a grandson
of the Serbian prince Stephen, retired to the monastery as monk Joasaph
and endowed it with many riches and special privileges. Soon the Great Meteoron
gained preponderance over all of the communes and hermitages of the area. The
development of the monasteries as well led to the illustrious period of monastic
life particularly in the 15th and the 16th centuries.
Gradually the community began to deteriorate; of the twenty-four
monasteries that had been built throughout the years, only very few
continue to operate. In fact only five monasteries are still
inhabited today -the Great Meteoron, Ayia Trias,
Varlaam, Agios Stefanos and Roussanou
(the last two by nuns).
A good paved road makes access to each of the main monasteries easy and
interesting. They may be visited in succession on a single trip (21 km from
Kalambaka and back).
On the left of the road to the monasteries, at the foot of the Meteora,
stands Doupiani hermitage and the 12th century chapel of the Virgin.
Nearby are the ruined monasteries of Pantocrator and Doupiani.
3 km from Kalambaka and again on our left is the monastery of Agios
Nikolaos Anapafsas. Built slightly before 1510 it was decorated in 1527
with beautifully preserved frescoes by the famous hagiographer
Theophanes the Cretan. Close by are the ruins of the monastery of Agia
Moni, built around 1315.
Six km out, the road forks south and northwards. At the turning, on our right
we go by the Roussanou monastery, probably built in 1288 and
renovated as a monastery in 1545. It contains frescoes of the Cretan School,
made in 1560. Following the southern route, which will eventually take us to the
monastery of Agios Stephanos, we first come upon the Agia
Trias monastery, built between 1458 and 1476 by the monk
Dometius. Situated on a particularly beautiful pinnacle, it is reached
by a circular flight of stairs (approximately 140 steps).
At the end of
the road is the nunnery and Museum of Agios Stephanos. A steep
gorge separates the pinnacle from the main cliff; the two rocks are connected by
a bridge.
Referred to as a hermitage at the beginning of the century, in 1333 Agios
Stephanos was visited by Emperor Andronicus the III Paleologus.
The head of the saint is preserved in the monastery's cathedral Agios
Haralambos. In the old church of Agios Stephanos (1350) one can still
admire the beautiful gold-leaved wood carvings, wall
paintings and old icons.
Back to the crossroads and on the northern route one soon comes upon the monastery
of Varlaam by climbing 195 steps. It was built as late as 1517 by the
brothers Theophanes and Nectarios, scions of a rich family from
Janena, on the site of the old hermitage of the hermit Varlaam. The frescoes in
the chapel of All Saints are by the famous hagiographer France
Catellano, done in 1548; the Narthex in 1566. The chapel of the Three
Hierarchs was renovated in 1627.
The road stops at the Great Meteoron, the biggest and the
most important of the monasteries. In older days ascent to the monastery was
made by jointed ladders and by nets of baskets.
Today one goes up a flight of 115 steep, irregular stairs cut into the rock
face. Thanks to lavish endowments the Great Meteoron became autonomous and
acquired many valuable works of art.
One should also visit the exquisite church of the Transfiguration with fine frescoes, fascinating to the visitor, and an intricate twelve - sided dome. Of interest too are the monastery's Refectory - today a Museum - and its Library's numerous manuscripts and rare books. When stopping at these isolated monasteries and looking at the Pindus range and the Thessalian plain down below, one understands why the hermits chose this spot in order to serve God and approach Him.