Meteora, Greece

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Meteora is one of the two World Heritage Sites in Greece that are listed under the mixed category. The name Meteora means "suspended rocks", a vivid description of the landscape which is made up craggy cliffs and sandstone peaks. In this seemingly inhospitable landscape, Eastern Orthodox monks have built settlements that huge the cliffs.

There are twenty-four monasteries that were built in Meteora, of which six, placed on natural sandstone rock pillars, still remain today. The custom of building monasteries in this inhospitable terrain does back to the late 11th century. In 1356, Athanasios Koinovitis came to Meteora and founded a great monastery there. Meteora was favored by the monks as it offers them refuge from threats by Turkish raiders. The monks made their monasteries difficult to access, requiring the use of long ladders and nets to hoist up goods and people.

Today, the monasteries of Meteora are tourist attractions although they continue to function as before. Five of these house monks while one house Eastern Orthodox nuns.

Meteora was inscribed as a World Heritage Site during the 12th session of the World Heritage Committee held in Brasilia, Brazil, on 5 - 9 December, 1988.

Photos of Meteora

Meteora, Greece
Author: Μυρμηγκάκι (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported)

World Heritage Site Inscription Details

Location: N 39 43 0.012 E 21 37 59.988 in the Prefecture of Trikala, Region of Thessaly
Inscription Year: 1988
Type of Site: Mixed
Inscription Criteria: I, II, IV, V, VII

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