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The Metéora (literally: "middle of the sky", "suspended in the air" or "in the heavens
above") is one of the largest and most important complexes of Eastern Orthodox monasteries
in Greece. The six monasteries are built on natural sandstone rock pillars, at the northwestern
edge of the Plain of Thessaly near the Pineios river and Pindus Mountains, in central Greece.
In the 9th century, an ascetic group of hermit monks moved up to the ancient pinnacles. They
were the first people to inhabit Metéora. They lived in hollows and fissures in the
rock towers, some of which reach 1800 ft above the plain. This great height, combined with
the sheerness of the cliff walls, kept away all but the most determined visitors. Initially
the hermits led a life of solitude, meeting only on Sundays and special days to worship
and pray in a chapel built at the foot of a rock known as Dhoupiani. As early as the
11th century AD hermit monks were believed to be living among the caves and cutouts in the rocks.
The exact date of the establishment of the monasteries is unknown. By the late 11th and
early 12th centuries, a rudimentary monastic state had formed and was centered around the
still-standing church of Theotokos. By the end of the 12th century, an ascetic community
had flocked to Metéora.
At the end of the 14th century, the Byzantine Empire's 800-year reign over northern Greece
was being increasingly threatened by Turkish raiders who wanted control over the fertile
plain of Thessaly. The hermit monks, seeking a retreat from the expanding Turkish occupation,
found the inaccessible rock pillars of Meteora to be an ideal refuge. More than 20 monasteries
were built, beginning in the 14th century. Six remain today.