Meteora
| Metéora | |
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Native name Greek: Μετέωρα |
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Monastery of St. Nicholas Anapausas
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| Location | Thessaly, Greece |
| Coordinates | 39°42′51″N 21°37′52″E / 39.71417°N 21.63111°ECoordinates: 39°42′51″N 21°37′52″E / 39.71417°N 21.63111°E |
| Official name: Metéora | |
| Type | Cultural |
| Criteria | i, ii, iv, v, vii |
| Designated | 1988 (12th session) |
| Reference no. | 455 |
| State Party | Greece |
| Region | Europe and North America |
 Location in Greece
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The Metéora (Greek: Μετέωρα, pronounced [mɛˈtɛoɾɐ], literally "middle of the sky", "suspended in the air" or "in the heavens above" — etymologically related to meteorology) - is a formation of immense monolithic pillars and hills like huge rounded boulders which dominate the local area.
It is also associated with one of the largest and most precipitously built complexes of Eastern Orthodox monasteries in Greece, second in importance only to Mount Athos. The six monasteries are built on natural conglomerate pillars, at the northwestern edge of the Plain of Thessaly near the Pineios river and Pindus Mountains, in central Greece.
Metéora is included on the UNESCO World Heritage List under criteria I, II, IV, V and VII.
The nearest town is Kalambaka.
Beside the Pindos Mountains, in the western region of Thessaly, these unique and enormous columns of rock rise precipitously from the ground. But their unusual form is not easy to explain geologically. They are not volcanic plugs of hard igneous rock typical elsewhere, but the rocks are composed of a mixture of sandstone and conglomerate.
The conglomerate was formed of deposits of stone, sand and mud from streams flowing into a delta at the edge of a lake, over millions of years. About 60 million years ago during the Paleogene Period a series of earth movements pushed the seabed upwards, creating a high plateau and causing many vertical fault lines in the thick layer of sandstone. The huge rock pillars were then formed by weathering by water, wind and extremes of temperature on the vertical faults. It is unusual that this conglomerate formation and type of weathering are confined to a relatively localised area within the surrounding mountain formation.
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Wikipedia