Tiger's Nest Monastery (Bhutan)
Taktshang is the most famous of monasteries in Bhutan. It hangs on a
cliff at 3,120 metres (10,200 feet), some 700 meters (2,300 feet) above
the bottom of Paro valley. Famous visitors include Ngawang Namgyal in
the 17th century and Milarepa.
The name means "Tiger's nest", the legend being that Padmasambhava (Guru
Rinpoche) flew there on the back of a tiger. The monastery includes
seven temples which can all be visited. The monastery suffered several
blazes and is a recent restoration. Climbing to the monastery is on foot
or mule.
Photo: Leo Palmer
Madonna del Sasso Monastery (Switzerland)
This beautiful pilgrimage church Madonna del Sasso with its Capuchin
monastery is towering high above Locarno. The old town enjoys the most
glorious of locations, on a broad sweeping curve of a bay in the lake,
and also clocks up the most sunshine hours of anywhere in Switzerland.
The monastery has a spectacular view of the town beneath it was built to
honour the Virgin Mary, who was said to have appeared in a vision in
1480 and was completed by 17th century. The monastery's museum hosts a
remarkable collection of sacred art. The twenty-minute walk up through
the lush ravine of the Torrente Ramogno is a romance in itself.
Yumbulagang Monastery (Tibet)
Yumbulagang , palace of mother and son in Tibetan dialect, is the first
palace and one of the earliest buildings in Tibet and it has a history
of more than 2,000 years. Destroyed during the Cultural Revolution it
was rebuilt in the 1980s. The walls are painted with beautiful murals
which tell the early history of Tibet.
It's said that it was built for Nyatri Tsanpo, the first Tibetan King by
Bon believers in the 2nd century BC. Then it became the summer palace
of Songtsan Gampo and Princess Wencheng. The 5thDalai Lama changed it as
the monastery of Old-Yellow Hat Sect (Kadamspa).
Gregoriou Monastery (Greece)
The Monastery of Gregoriou was built on a beautiful location at the
south-west side of Mount Athos, dedicated to Saint Nicholas. The
monastery was founded in the 14th century. It occupies the seventeenth
rank in the hierarchical order of the twenty Athonite monasteries. It is
considered to be one of the most well-organised and strict coenobitic
monasteries. It is inhabited by 70 monks (1990). Its katholikon was
built in 1768, in accordance to the Athonite plan. The church's walls
were decorated in 1779 by the holy monks Gabriel and Gregory from
Kastoria. The Church's narthex (vestibule) was added later. Aside from
the katholikon, the monastery also features many chapels. The library is
relatively poor since it was destroyed by raids and fire during the
revolution of 1821. Today, it features 297 manuscripts and 4,500 printed
books. The monastery also features a fragment of the True Cross and
relics of saints. The monastery's treasury is very rich in relics from
various eras and also houses many chrysobulls, siggilia, etc. The bones
of St Niphon, Patriarch of Constantinople, are displayed in a special
crypt in the katholikon. The library is richly stocked and
well-organised. It contains some 804 manuscript codices, theological,
ecclesiastical or liturgical works. One manuscript is an illuminated
13th century Holy Bible.
Metéora Monastery (Greece)
The Metéora (Greek: "suspended rocks", "suspended in the air" or "in the
heavens above") is one of the largest and most important complex of
monasteries in Greece, second only to Mount Athos. The monasteries are
built on natural sandstone rock pillars, at the northwestern edge of the
Plain of Thessaly near the Peneios river and Pindus Mountains, in
central Greece. The Metéora is home to six monasteries and is included
on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Gradac Monastery (Serbia)
Photo: Marko Kosovcevic
Endowment of Queen Helen (of the Anjou) wife of Serbian King Uros I. It
is located 20 km north from Raska and was built in the 13th century. The
church is predominantly in the style of the autochthonous Raska school,
though with certain Gothic elements.
Ngaphechaung Monastery (Burma)
Ngaphechaung Monastery is located in Inle Lake, on the way to Phaung Daw
Oo Pagoda. This is an attractive wooden monastery built on stilts over
the lake at the end of the 1850s. Aside from its collection of Buddhas
the monastery may be of interest to visit because its monks have taught a
few of the many cats living with them to jump through hoops. 25 minutes
boat ride to visit and ancient monastery built on huge pieces of teak
wood with traditional architecture and see the popular jumping cats leap
through the hoops.
The monastery is also known for a collection of old Myanmar's Buddha
images from different areas that are worth seeing. Nga Phe Chaug is the
biggest and oldest monastery on the Inle Lake and is worth visiting for
its historical purposes and architecture as well as its cats.
Montserrat Monastery (Spain)
The Santa María de Montserrat monastery is located in the Montserrat
mountain in Catalonia. The Virgin of Montserrat famous statue is here;
ñegend has it that the Benedictine monks could not move the statue to
construct their monastery, choosing to instead build around it. The
statue's sanctuary is located at the rear of the chapel, where an altar
of gold surrounds the icon, and is now a site of pilgrimage.
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