Holy Meteora

The Monastery of St Nicholas Anapfsas History and Art

by Professor Dimitrios Z Sofianos & Professor Efthimios N Tsigaridas

The Monastery of St. Nicholas Anapafsas in Meteora, founded in the early 14th century, is notable for its unique construction and splendid f rescoes by the 16th-centur y Cretan painter Theophanis the Cretan. The monaster y was abandoned by 1900, fell into disrepair until it was renovated in the 1960s. It was then inhabited by Father Palamas until 1982, after which the monastery closed. In 1997, priests of Kalampaka began to open the monastery every summer. As the top of this rock is limited in size, the monastery buildings were extended upward, rising three stories. The small katholikon of St. Nicholas occupies the second floor. Its dome has no windows because of the floor built on top of it and it has an irregular f loor plan in order to fit on the rock. A larger narthex extends to the west. The frescoes of St. Nicholas are some of the most important in the Meteora, as they were painted by, Theophanis the Cretan and some of his earliest known work. He painted them in 1527, when he was probably a mon k here. Depicting such scenes as the Passion of Christ, the Virgin Mary praying , Jonah and the Whale, the Liturgy of Angels and the Last Judgement, the frescoes demonstrate the characteristics for which he became noted on Mount Athos: delicacy of line; vividness in imagery; and bright colors.

Cover type: Hard
345 pages
Edition #1 published in 2003 by The Monastery of St Nocholas Anapafsas .
ISBN: 50-2000-1368