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Read
more about the holy monasteries: Great
Meteoron - Varlaam - St.
Stephen - Holy Trinity -
St. Nicholas Anapausas
- Rousanou - other
monasteries - Kalambaka The
Holy Monastery of St. Nicholas Anapausas It
is the first to meet on our way from Kastraki to Meteora. The 'Katholikon' dedicated
to St. Nicholas, is a single - nave church with small dome, built in the beginning
of 16th c. It was decorated by the Cretan painter Theophanis Strelitzas or Bathas,
in 1527.  Founded
in the early 14th century, Agios Nikolaos Anapaphsas is a monastery in the Meteora
notable for its unique construction and splendid frescoes by the 16th-century
Cretan painter Theophanes the Monk.
Since
the top of this rock is limited in size, the monastery buildings had to be extended
upward instead of outward, rising three stories high. 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 floor plan in order to fit on
the rock. A larger narthex extends to the west. The
frescoes of Agios Nikolaos are some of the most important in the Meteora, as they
were painted by the celebrated leader of the Cretan school, Theophanes Strelitzas.
He painted them in 1527, when he was probably a monk here. These frescoes are
the first to bear the signature of the artist ("Ch.M.") and are among
his earliest works of this magnitude. 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 Theophanes of Crete became famous: delicacy of line; vividness in imagery;
and bright colors. The
first floor of the monastery is occupied by the tiny Chapel of St. Anthony, which
contains some early 14th-century frescoes, and a crypt where relics and manuscripts
used to be stored. The
third floor contains the old refectory, decorated with frescoes and recently renovated
for use as a reception hall, the ossuary (for storage of bones), and the renovated
Chapel of St. John the Baptist. Paralia
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