Varlaam Monastery is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is the second largest monastery in Meteora and one of the 6 monasteries (out of 20) that are open for visitation. Many of us are marvel at the outside of the Varlaam Monastery sitting on a rock pillar. But the inside of the monsatery is equally impressive!

The monastery eventually was named from Varlaam who manage to climb on the cliff around 1350. A few decades later, and after Varlaam died the cliff was abandoned by the rest of the monks. The 14th-century chapel built by him and dedicated to the “Three Hierarchs” in the following years almost turned into ruins.

In the early 16th century two brothers from Ioannina, the priest-monks Theophanes and Nectarios, the so-called Apsarades decided to reactivate the abandoned monastery of Varlaam. They settled on the cliff spending many years building a new chapel dedicated to “All Saints” in 1541.

свернуть