St. Stephen Monastery, Kalabaka, Greece

The Monastery of St. Stephen was founded by St. Antoninus Cantacuzene, who is thought to be a son of the Serb ruler Nicephorus II of Epirus, in c. 1400.

This monastery rests on the plain rather than on a cliff. It was shelled by the Nazis during World War II who believed it was harboring insurgents and was abandoned. The monastery was given over to nuns in 1961 and they have reconstructed it into a flourishing nunnery, with 28 nuns in residence in 2015.

The old katholikon (main church), which was rebuilt in 1545 and frescoed shortly thereafter, still stands. The new katholikon was built in 1798 and is currently being frescoed by a modern artist. It is dedicated to the martyred St. Charalambos, whose head it contains.

The refectory (15th century) has a surviving fresco of the Virgin in the apse. The monastery contains a small museum of vestments and other religious objects and the nuns sell handmade embroideries and other trinkets.

Monasteries of Meteora are included on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

References:

Sacred Destinations

User Reviews

Sebastian Muñoz (2 months ago)
I felt a little bit scammed because I was the only one guy who had to buy trousers to can go in. The others guys inside were wearing shorts like me, and they didn't have to pay for trousers to enter. Otherwise nice place, with easy access.

Dries De Laet (2 months ago)
Our favorite monastery during our visit in meteora. The residents of the monastery are present in everything: entrance, souvenir store ... this makes everything feel super authentic and creates an extra calming atmosphere. Moreover, the gardens are beautifully maintained.

Crocheting with Amaryllis (2 months ago)
A really beautiful place to visit, an unbelievable view, and it is the oldest nunnery/monastery in meteora also the only nunnery. Women have to wear a dress or a skirt over the shoulders and under the knees, men have to wear long trousers and a shirt over the shoulders.

Andy Xufuris (2 months ago)
Not my favorite place, but I'm also not the most religious. It's very pretty to see. The view is great and the monastery is very nice. Not to much to see though but I can see why religious people would like to see it. The bathrooms certainly need to be updated... It's 2021, people should not be using holes in the ground anymore

Mike X (4 months ago)
Despite the website, they ARE still providing temporary skirts. Great views of kalambaka from inside. It's a got a church and really small museum (no photos allowed in either). Church is full of imagery on the walls and ceilings!

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

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Broch of Gurness

The Broch of Gurness is an Iron Age broch village. Settlement here began sometime between 500 and 200 BC. At the centre of the settlement is a stone tower or broch, which once probably reached a height of around 10 metres. Its interior is divided into sections by upright slabs. The tower features two skins of drystone walls, with stone-floored galleries in between. These are accessed by steps. Stone ledges suggest that there was once an upper storey with a timber floor. The roof would have been thatched, surrounded by a wall walk linked by stairs to the ground floor. The broch features two hearths and a subterranean stone cistern with steps leading down into it. It is thought to have some religious significance, relating to an Iron Age cult of the underground.

The remains of the central tower are up to 3.6 metres high, and the stone walls are up to 4.1 metres thick. The tower was likely inhabited by the principal family or clan of the area but also served as a last resort for the village in case of an attack.

The broch continued to be inhabited while it began to collapse and the original structures were altered. The cistern was filled in and the interior was repartitioned. The ruin visible today reflects this secondary phase of the broch's use.

The site is surrounded by three ditches cut out of the rock with stone ramparts, encircling an area of around 45 metres diameter. The remains of numerous small stone dwellings with small yards and sheds can be found between the inner ditch and the tower. These were built after the tower, but were a part of the settlement's initial conception. A 'main street' connects the outer entrance to the broch. The settlement is the best-preserved of all broch villages.

Pieces of a Roman amphora dating to before 60 AD were found here, lending weight to the record that a 'King of Orkney' submitted to Emperor Claudius at Colchester in 43 AD.

At some point after 100 AD the broch was abandoned and the ditches filled in. It is thought that settlement at the broch continued into the 5th century AD, the period known as Pictish times. By that time the broch was not used anymore and some of its stones were reused to build smaller dwellings on top of the earlier buildings. Until about the 8th century, the site was just a single farmstead.

In the 9th century, a Norse woman was buried at the site in a stone-lined grave with two bronze brooches and a sickle and knife made from iron. Other finds suggest that Norse men were buried here too.

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