One of the largest and most important complexes of Orthodox monasteries in the "middle of the sky", included in UNESCO World Heritage List.
Monasteries and their inhabitants
In the 9th century, an ascetic group of hermit monks moved up to the ancient pinnacles. They were the first people to inhabit that area. They lived in hollows and fissures in the rock towers, some of which reach 1800 ft (550m) above the plain. This great height, combined with the sheerness of the cliff walls, kept away all but the most determined visitors.
Access to the monasteries was originally (and deliberately) difficult, requiring either long ladders lashed together or large nets used to haul up both goods and people. This required quite a leap of faith – the ropes were replaced, so the story goes, only "when the Lord let them break". In the 1920s there was an improvement in the arrangements. Steps were cut into the rock, making the complex accessible via a bridge from the nearby plateau.
In 1921, Queen Marie of Romania became the first woman ever allowed to enter in one of the monasteries.
Six of the monasteries remain today. Of these six, four were inhabited by men, and two by women. Each monastery has fewer than 10 inhabitants. The monasteries are now tourist attractions.
Rock pillars
In the 5th century BC, historian Herodotus wrote, that local people believed this area had once been a sea. If this was accurate, there was most probably an inundation at the end of the last Ice Age, around 8000 BC. However, he failed to mention this magnificent rocks and they are not recorded in the writings of other ancient authors. This has led to the belief that the pinnacles did not exist 2000 years ago; a theory dismissed by modern geologists.
Contemporary studies suggest that the pinnacles were formed about 60 million years ago during the Paleogene Period. Weathering and earthquakes then shaped them into their present shape.
Image Source: Wikimedia Commons