General Information

Meteora is one of the most important monuments in the world and the most important monastic group in Greece after Athos.

It is a group of imposing rocks abrupt and tall, on the foothills of Kamvounia mountains and in distance of 9 km from the Kalampaka. On their top came and settled the first ascetic monks in the 11th century and from the 14th century a lot of monasteries were built. Initially there was 24 with a lot of hermitages and ascetic caves in the rocks, and later they decreased to 14, and today are saved and function only six: Megalo Meteoro, Varlaam, Rousanou, Saint Trinity, Saint Nikolaos Anapausa, and Saint Stefanos.

The monasteries that are saved today attract the interest of the public, and the experts for their history, the monuments and their marvellous natural beauty. The monks of Meteora offered a lot in the artistic production in the Byzantine and post byzantine years. Remarkable are the monuments of monasterial architecture and painting. The paintings are in the form of wall paintings that cover all the internal surfaces of walls and temples, according to the palette of the last Byzantine period, and in the form of portable pictures. The last ones adorned the temples and chapels. The ancientest are kept today in the sacristies of monasteries. In the temple of Megalo Meteoro are saved samples of murals, that are distinguished for their expressive force. In the monastery Varlaam are saved the most representative samples of murals of Meteora.