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Haghpat Monastery is a 10th-century Armenian monastery complex, renowned for its medieval architecture, cultural significance, and status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The Lepavina Monastery is a Serb Orthodox monastery dedicated to the Presentation of Mary and located in Croatia. Established in 1550.
Gonia Monastery (Monastery of Panagia Hodegetria) is located on the southeast coast of the Rodopos peninsula. It was founded in the 9th century and was originally situated at Menies, on the ruins of the ancient temple of Artemis. The monastery was built in the 13th century and rebuilt between 1618 and 1634 in its present location, with Venetian influences in its architectural design and adornments.
According to monks the present location at Kolymvari was considered safer from attack. Despite this, the monastery was heavily damaged by Ottoman bombardment on many occasions throughout its history, finally in 1867, during the Cretan Revolt (1866–1869). During WWII the monastery was partly destroyed by German bombing and it became one of the most important areas of Cretan resistance to Nazi Germany.
The monastery´s museum Cretan icons.
A detail of the "Dormation" icon (prev upload).
The Nativity
The Magi the are approaching the scene - in a very unsusal attire
Lhatse - Sakya - Shigatse - Tibetan Plateau - Tibet Autonomous Region - China
Narthang Monastery - Sakya Monastery
Narthang Monastery is a monastery located 15 km west of Shigatse in Tibet. Founded in 1153 by one of the disciples of Atisha, Nathang was the fourth great monastery of Tsang with Shalu Monastery, Sakya and Tashilhunpo. Narthang was first famous for its scriptual teaching and monastic discipline. After the fourteenth century it gained great eminence as the oldest of Tibet's three great printing centres (the other being the Potala and the Derge).
The Fifth Panchen Lama took control of the monastery and it continued printing the Buddhist scriptures the Kangyur and the Tengyur up until 1959. Narrthang's five main buildings and large chanting hall were razed to the ground by the Chinese in 1966. They had contained priceless 14th century murals possibly painted by the artist scholars of nearby Shalu Monastery. Today only the mud-brick foundations can be discerned although parts of the Mongolian styled high-fortress walls are still standing.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narthang_Monastery
Shigatse, officially known as Xigazê, is a prefecture-level city of the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, It is located within the historical Tsang province of Tibet.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shigatse
With jeep on the road.
The Tibetan Plateau, also known in China as the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau or the Qingzang Plateau or Himalayan Plateau, is a vast elevated plateau in Central Asia or East Asia, covering most of the Tibet Autonomous Region and Qinghai Province in western China, as well as part of Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir state of India. It stretches approximately 1,000 kilometres north to south and 2,500 kilometres east to west. With an average elevation exceeding 4,500 metres , the Tibetan Plateau is sometimes called "the Roof of the World" and is the world's highest and largest plateau, with an area of 2,500,000 square kilometres (about five times the size of Metropolitan France). Sometimes termed the "Third Pole", the Tibetan Plateau is the headwaters of the drainage basins of most of the streams in surrounding regions. Its tens of thousands of glaciers and other geographical and ecological features serve as a "water tower" storing water and maintaining flow. The impact of global warming on the Tibetan Plateau is of intense scientific interest.
Monastery buildings on the hillside above Peypul.
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California? New Mexico? Boston.
From the Passionist Historical Archives:
In 1907 the Passionists received permission to establish a monastery in Boston. Father Fidelis Kent Stone, husband, father and widower, former Episcopal minister, President of Kenyon and Hobart Colleges, convert, Paulist priest and Passionist, pioneered the effort. In 1908 the Nevins Estate in Brighton was purchased. Dedicated in 1911, St. Gabriel's Monastery, built with attention to Spanish architecture, was soon home to a small community of itinerant preachers and a public chapel where many came for spiritual consolation. St. Gabriel's also served as a Passionist house of studies. From 1911 to 1978, St. Gabriel's was home to a laymen's retreat movement. A separate retreat wing was added to the monastery in 1927 and expanded in 1950. In the post-conciliar era this ministry grew and changed from a monastic style retreat to a team approach.
In 1928 a church was built on the property to replace the chapel. Weekly devotions in honor of Passionists saints, an outreach to the community, especially the many hospitals and public housing developments, and an option for the poor with parish projects have been important ministries over the decades.
In 1978 the Passionists decided to close St. Gabriel's Monastery due to financial concerns and lack of personnel. In 1980 it was sold to St. Elizabeth's Hospital. From the early 1980s until the late 1990s, a small Passionist community resided at St. Gabriel's Residence, adjacent to the original property.
Founded in 1416, Drepung is one of the most important monasteries of the Gelug Order. Until its relocation to the Potala Palace, Drepung Monastery was the seat of the Dalai Lama. Drepung has a very eventful history. In 1959, at its absolute peak, Drepung had over 10,000 monks, it was the largest monastery in Tibet and owned 186 estates, had around 20,000 serfs, 300 pastures and 16,000 herdsmen.
Goshavank (Armenian: Գոշավանք; meaning "Monastery of Gosh"; previously known as Nor Getik) is a 12th- or 13th-century Armenian monastery located in the village of Gosh in the Tavush Province of Armenia. Today the monastery is not a functioning religious complex, although it remains a popular tourist destination and has recently undergone some light restoration. The impressive monastery which has remained in relatively good condition also houses one of the world's finest examples of a khachkar.
Goshavank was erected in the place of an older monastery once known as Nor Getik, which had been destroyed by an earthquake in 1188. Mkhitar Gosh, a statesman, scientist and author of numerous fables and parables as well as the first criminal code, took part in the rebuilding of the monastery.
Goshavank does not have outer walls, and is surrounded by village homes. All of the buildings are attached to each other except for S. Hripsime Chapel, which is located on the opposite hillside and within view.
(Wikipedia)
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Having explored monasteries of Lori province, we headed to the east to visit famous Sevan lake and sights located around its shores. This Goshavank monastery was particularly beautiful, especially thanks to our early morning visit, fine light, and no tourists around.
October 2019
St Barnabas' Monastery and Museum, Famagusta, Cyprus
Saint Barnabas Monastery & Museum
The Monastery of St. Barnabas is at the opposite side of the Salamis-Famagusta road, by the Royal Tombs. You can easily tell it by its two fairly large domes. It was built to commemorate the foremost saint of Cyprus, whose life was so intertwined with the spread of the Christian message in the years immediately following the death of Christ.
Barnabas was a native of the ancient city Salamis, and was a Jew, though his family had been settled for some time in Cyprus. His real name was in fact Joses, or Joseph; Barnabas was the name given to him by the early Christian apostles because he was recognised as `a son of Prophecy', or as Luke puts it `a son of consolation'. There is no contradiction here. Luke is merely emphasising that one of the great historic functions of prophecy was to console the believer and keep him in the faith.
He was reputed to be an inspired teacher of Christianity, but more than that he played a very great role in the development of early Christianity. He was also the man to acknowledge that Paul's conversion to Christianity was absolutely sincere, and above all he recognised the genius of Paul, whom he introduced to the Christian fellowship in Jerusalem. When Barnabas was later sent to Antioch to supervise the work of the early Church there, he had Paul as his assistant. Later still, of course, he undertook his great missionary journey with Paul, visiting among other places, his own country of Cyprus.
Finally, of course, we know certainly that Paul and Barnabas had a strong diffrence of opinion about Barnabas' nephew, John Mark, and the two friends parted company. Paul wrote later that the rift was healed but by that time Barnabas was probably already back in Cyprus.
The monastery which bears Barnabas' name was originally built in the last part of the fifth century, to commemorate the discovery of his body, and the dignity and the seniority it brought to the early Christian Church of Cyprus. Parts of the early building have been preserved in the more recent churh which was built by Archbishop Philotheos in 1756. The money for the purchase of the land on which the monastery was built, is supposed to have been provided by the Byzantine Emperor at the time Barnabas' body was found.
When you look carefully at the church you will notice the traces of the original fifth century building and also places it seems to have been enlarged and changed, probably in the very late mediaeval period. But in the main it is fairly conventional Greek Orthodox architecture of the eighteen century.
On one of the walls, the story of how Barnabas' body was shown to the Archbishop in a dream, is rendered in small pictures. These were done in the present century, but some of the icons and statues are a good deal older.
On another wall, somewhat incongruously, hang wax replicas of limbs in a gesture of gratitude for the ailing limbs which the Apostle Barnabas is supposed to have miraculously cured. Close by, the image of st. Heraklion stares at you from every angle you choose. All these items, ancient and modern have been very well looked after and are shown with great oride by the curator of the church.
The marble columns supporting the domes are conspicuous and rather spectacular. It is impossible to be certain, but these may well have come from Salamis. In one sense, the little rock tomb in which Barnabas is supposed to have been found gives the authentic flavour of the Christian evangelist and martyr much more effectively.
The church of St Barnabas is exactly as it was when its last three monks left it in 1976. The church apparatus ; pulpits, wooden lectern, and pews are still in place. It houses a rich collection of painted and gilt icons mostly dating from the 18th century.
The carved blocks and capital blocks in the garden and cloister courtyard come from Salamis. The black basalt grinding mill come from Enkomi.
The cloister of the monastery have recently been restored and at present serve as the archaeological museum. This section houses an exquisite collection of ancient pottery displayed chronologically, representing the changes in morphology and decoration of pottery in Cyprus from the Neolithic to the Roman times. The rest of the collection covers bronze and marble art objects.
Look out for the monument half way up the far right side of this 360° panorama.
Ad Deir (The Monastery) is a monumental building carved out of rock in the ancient Jordanian city of Petra. Built by the Nabataeans in the 1st century and measuring 50 metres wide by approximately 45 meters high. Architecturally the Monastery is an example of the Nabataean classical style. It is the second most visited building in Petra after Al Khazneh (The Treasury). It was dedicated to Obodas I and is believed to be the symposium of Obodas the god. This information is inscribed on the ruins of the Monastery. The building was probably later consecrated as a church by Byzantine Christians, crosses have also been carved into the ruins.
Ad Deir is 40.2 meters wide and is carved deep into the side of the mountain. The door itself is 8 meters high. The main inside chamber is huge. It is 11.5 meters by 10 meters, and is lit only by light coming through the 8 meter high doorway.
The Monastery was originally used as the living guarters of the Augustinans, classrooms, refectory, vestry, libarary and infirmary.
It was destroyed by the British forces in 1762 by the American soldiers in 1898 and during the Japanese and American liberation war in 1945.
San Agustin Museum
Intramuros, Manila
Philippines
The Holy Monastery of the Virgin of Kykkos was founded at the end of the 11th century by the Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos (1081–1118). The monastery lies at an altitude of 1,318 m on the north west face of the Troodos Mountains.
According to legend the hermit monk Isaiah was disturbed in his solitude by the governor of Cyprus, who had strayed from the path while hunting. The monk was maltreated when he refused to show him the way. Upon his return home, the governor, who had fallen ill, begged the monk's forgiveness. The monk healed him at the behest of the Virgin Mary, who appeared to him in a dream, and in return received a miracolous Marian icon, belonging to the Emperor of Constantinople. Over the centuries, the monastery was repeatedly destroyed by fires and earthquakes, so the current complex dates from the 19th and 20th centuries.
For centuries, the locals venerated the icon of the Virgin Mary, that according to Orthodox tradition was painted on a wooden panel by the Evangelist Luke during the Virgin's lifetime. Many miracles are attributed to it and it served as a model for countlessr Madonna images in the Eastern Church. It is covered with silver and gold and set in a precious frame. The always veiled image of Mary cannot be viewed nowadays.
The monastery corridors are decorated with frescoes and mosaics created in the 1990s.
The Nativity
The Annunciation to the shepherds
The Magi
and in the centre
Jesus´ First Bath
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Jesus´ First Bath
www.ipernity.com/doc/323415/album/1286406
Jesus´ First Bath
Amarbayasgalant Monastery is one of the three largest Buddhist monastic centers in Mongolia. The monastery complex is located in the Iven Valley near the Selenge River, at the foot of Mount Büren-Khaan in Baruunbüren sum (district) of Selenge Province in northern Mongolia. The nearest town is Erdenet which is about 60 km to the southwest.
Amarbayasgalant was one of the very few monasteries to have partly escaped destruction during the Stalinist purges of 1937, after which only the buildings of the central section remained. Many of the monks were executed by the country's Communist regime and the monastery's artifacts, including thangkas, statues, and manuscripts were looted, although some were hidden until more fortunate times.
Today, only 28 temples remain. Restoration work began in 1988 with funds provided by UNESCO and private sources and some of the new statuary was commissioned in New Delhi, India.
The Monastery of Saint Ivan of Rila, better known as the Rila Monastery is the largest and most famous Eastern Orthodox monastery in Bulgaria. It is situated in the southwestern Rila Mountains, 117 km (73 mi) south of the capital Sofia in the deep valley of the Rilska River at an elevation of 1,147 m (3,763 ft) above sea level, inside of the Rila Monastery Nature Park. The monastery is named after its founder, the hermit Ivan of Rila (876 - 946 AD).
This monastery -- Snagov Monastery -- is located about 25 miles north of Bucharest in Ilfov County. (It's close enough that I'm including it as a Bucharest album.)
So what's the deal with Snagov Monastery? Honestly, I don't know. It seems there's no consensus on much of anything here, other than that the monastery exists. Nobody is sure when it was built, exactly, and that may have part to do with the reason it was built...if you choose to believe that, too.
This is (or not?) Vlad Tepes's final resting place. (For sake of argument, I'll say it is, though...who knows?) Vlad's English sobriquet is Vlad the Impaler (Tepes in Romanian), and he was...rather cruel. By the time of his death, he had many enemies, and it seems he was beheaded as his form of demise. This monastery was possibly built Vlad himself (at his orders, that is), or at the request of his grandfather.
Vlad's "tomb" in the middle of the church floor. Well...as he had a lot of enemies, one thought is that his burial spot was hidden. Some say he was -- and still is -- buried here, but deep under the floor, and animal bones were buried above him to throw off anyone who found the location. Well...the place was excavated, animal bones were found, and (I guess?) they didn't dig deeper. Short answer...nobody knows and it serves tourism's interests not to confirm. I'll leave it at that.
As for the aesthetics of the monastery, it's a standard Greek Orthodox church on the inside. That means...lots of paintings covering 100% of the wall. (This small monastery, though, is not a great example of Romanian churches; the churches up in Transylvania at Maramures are all much better representations. The painted monasteries there are all UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Having said all of that, if you're in Bucharest, this is worth seeing just for the fun of it. Day trips are cheap and easy.
Rila Monastery was founded in the 10th century by St John of Rila, a hermit canonized by the Orthodox Church. His ascetic dwelling and tomb became a holy site and were transformed into a monastic complex which played an important role in the spiritual and social life of medieval Bulgaria. Destroyed by fire at the beginning of the 19th century, the complex was rebuilt between 1834 and 1862. A characteristic example of the Bulgarian Renaissance (18th–19th centuries), the monument symbolizes the awareness of a Slavic cultural identity following centuries of occupation.
The Betania Monastery of the Nativity of the Mother of God commonly known as Betania or Bethania is a medieval Georgian Orthodox monastery in eastern Georgia, 16 km (10 miles) southwest of Tbilisi, the nation’s capital. It is a remarkable piece of architecture of the "Golden Age" of the Kingdom of Georgia, at the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries, and is notable for its wall paintings which include a group portrait of the contemporary Georgian monarchs.
History:
Betania is located in the isolated wooded valley of the Vere river in Kvemo Kartli, 16 km (10 miles) southwest of Tbilisi. The name of the monastery is derived from that of the village Bethany in Palestine recorded in the New Testament as the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus, as well as that of Simon the Leper.
The history of the monastery is poorly recorded in Georgian historical tradition. It was a familial abbey of the House of Orbeli. The donor image of Sumbat and Liparit Orbeli before the Mother of God appears on the south transept of the monastery. The Orbeli were temporarily dispossessed of their estates by the royal crown at the end of the 12th century, but their later offshoot, the Gostashabishvili family, appear to have been the monastery’s owners in early modern Georgia.
A series of conflicts and foreign invasions that fill the history of Georgia left the monastery depopulated and half-ruined. It was restored, in the latter half of the 19th century, through the efforts of Hieromonk Spiridon Ketiladze who resigned as an abbot in 1922 and was succeeded by Hieromonk Ilia Pantsulaia. Both these monks were shot during the Soviet purges. Betania remained the only operating Georgian monastery, though unofficially, until 1963 when it also became defunct for the next 15 years. In 1978, the energetic Patriarch of Georgia Ilia II succeeded in obtaining permission from the Soviet authorities to reopen a monastery at Betania. In the 1990s, the cloister was refurnished and the local monastic community grew in size and influence.
Architecture:
The monastery’s territory seems to have been surrounded by a massive wall, but only dismembered stones scattered in the adjacent forest have survived of it. The extant edifices are a principal domed church of the Nativity of the Mother of God (constructed at the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries), a smaller hall church of St. George (1196), and a ruined tower.
The church of the Nativity of the Mother of God is a cross-in-square design with a dome and built of stone, with some external carved decoration in the eastern façade where traditional niches have multifoil or scalloped tops connected to the frame of the middle window. Its high dome, slightly shifted to the east, rests upon the two westerly located freely standing pillars and ledges of the altar. The southern entrance portal is fronted by the gate roofed with a star-shaped vault. Modern scholars have surmised that the church is actually an expanded, domed and decorated version of an earlier basilica probably dating from the 10th century.
Murals:
The interior is adorned with significantly damaged murals which mark one of the high points of medieval Georgian wall painting. The conch of the altar contains a scene of Supplication of which only the fragments of the figure of an enthroned Christ have survived. The walls of the apses behind the altar are decorated with the frescos of Prophets holding scrolls with Georgian inscriptions. The northern wall is occupied by a cycle of the Passion of the Christ while the southern wall contains the scenes from the Old Testament and the western – those of the Last Judgment.
The north transept of the monastery is notable for the depiction of the Georgian monarchs dating from c. 1207. These are the portraits of George III (r. 1156-1184), his daughter Queen Tamar (r. 1184-1213), and the son of the latter George IV (r. 1213-1223). The Russian prince Grigory Gagarin discovered and cleaned the image of Tamar in 1851, and published his drawings and reports the same year. George IV is shown as a beardless young man in Georgian court robes, but he wears a crown and sword. These attributes suggest that George is depicted as a young king after his co-coronation with his mother, which took place after the death of his father, David Soslan, in 1207. The painting, therefore, helps to determine the approximate date of the Betania church. An important irregularity observed by modern scholars is that none of the secular figures at Betania has a halo, an attribute that was normally used in Georgian imagery to distinguish a royal person from the rest of society.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Prayer meeting in progress in the central hall of the monastery where in hundreds of monks recited their prayers and performed other rituals.
Solovetsky Monastery (Russian: Солове́цкий монасты́рь; IPA: [səlɐˈvʲetskʲɪj mənɐˈstɨrʲ]) was the greatest citadel of Christianity in the Russian North before being turned into a special Soviet prison and labor camp (1926–1939), which served as a prototype for the Gulag system. Situated on the Solovetsky Islands in the White Sea, the monastery braved many changes of fortune and military sieges. Its most important structures date from the 16th century, when Filip Kolychev was its hegumen.
The Monastery of Horezu was founded in 1690 by Prince Constantin Brâncoveanu in the town of Horezu, Wallachia, Romania. It is considered to be a masterpiece of "Brâncovenesc style", known for its architectural purity and balance, the richness of its sculpted detail, its treatment of religious compositions, its votive portraits, and its painted decorative works.
The monastery has been inscribed by UNESCO on its list of World Heritage Sites.
This monastery -- Snagov Monastery -- is located about 25 miles north of Bucharest in Ilfov County. (It's close enough that I'm including it as a Bucharest album.)
So what's the deal with Snagov Monastery? Honestly, I don't know. It seems there's no consensus on much of anything here, other than that the monastery exists. Nobody is sure when it was built, exactly, and that may have part to do with the reason it was built...if you choose to believe that, too.
This is (or not?) Vlad Tepes's final resting place. (For sake of argument, I'll say it is, though...who knows?) Vlad's English sobriquet is Vlad the Impaler (Tepes in Romanian), and he was...rather cruel. By the time of his death, he had many enemies, and it seems he was beheaded as his form of demise. This monastery was possibly built Vlad himself (at his orders, that is), or at the request of his grandfather.
Vlad's "tomb" in the middle of the church floor. Well...as he had a lot of enemies, one thought is that his burial spot was hidden. Some say he was -- and still is -- buried here, but deep under the floor, and animal bones were buried above him to throw off anyone who found the location. Well...the place was excavated, animal bones were found, and (I guess?) they didn't dig deeper. Short answer...nobody knows and it serves tourism's interests not to confirm. I'll leave it at that.
As for the aesthetics of the monastery, it's a standard Greek Orthodox church on the inside. That means...lots of paintings covering 100% of the wall. (This small monastery, though, is not a great example of Romanian churches; the churches up in Transylvania at Maramures are all much better representations. The painted monasteries there are all UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Having said all of that, if you're in Bucharest, this is worth seeing just for the fun of it. Day trips are cheap and easy.
The Tatev Monastery in southern Armenia dates from the 9th century. The monastic ensemble stands on the edge of a deep gorge of the Vorotan River. In the 14th and 15th centuries Tatev Monastery hosted one of the most important Armenian medieval universities, the University of Tatev, which contributed to the advancement of science, religion and philosophy, reproduction of books and development of miniature painting. Scholars of the Tatev University contributed to the preservation of Armenian culture and creed during one of its most turbulent periods in its history. The buildings of the ensemble were severely damaged in a 1931 earthquake and have only been partially restored.
The Gandantegchinlen Monastery is a Tibetan-style monastery in the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar that has been restored and revitalized since 1990. The Tibetan name translates to the "Great Place of Complete Joy". It currently has over 150 monks in residence. It features a 26.5-meter-high statue of Migjid Janraisig, a Buddhist bodhisattva also known as Avalokitesvara. It came under state protection in 1994.
The Monastery of Batalha (Mosteiro da Batalha) is a Dominican convent in the Centro Region of Portugal. It was erected in commemoration of the 1385 Battle of Aljubarrota, and would serve as the burial church of the 15th-Century Aviz dynasty of Portuguese royalty. It is one of the best and original examples of Late Gothic architecture in Portugal, intermingled with the Manueline style.
Chreljo Tower - Rilski Manastir / Рилски манастир / Monastery of Saint Ivan of Rila - UNESCO World Heritage Site - България / Bulgaria