Contributions of the group Medieval monasteries and convents

Stavrovouni Monastery

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Thu, 14 May 2026 21:34:45 +0000

According to legend, Helena was returning from the Holy Land with the True Cross when a storm drove her ashore on the coast of Cyprus.

At that night the True Cross was transferred by a miracle to the peak of a high hill and that a strong light was coming out of that peak. Helena decided to leave a piece there, and built a small chapel to house it. It has since become one of the most important Christian pilgrimage sites on the island of Cyprus and is considered to be one of the oldest monasteries in the world.

Timios Stavros tou Agiasmati

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Sun, 19 Apr 2026 18:37:37 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

The single-nave Church of the Holy Cross in Agiasmati was once part of a monastery that was abandoned already in the mid-18th century. Although the exact date of the church's construction is unknown, it is generally agreed that the decorations were completed in 1494.

From the outside, the church appears very simple and resembles a barn. The wooden roof rests on a wall surrounding the church, creating a four sided portico, a covered kind of cloister around the church itself. An insciption above the south door tells, that the church was erected through a donation of a priest named Peter and his wife Pepani.

Since 1985 Timios Stavros tou Agiasmati is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Painted Churches in the Troodos Region".

Timios Stavros tou Agiasmati

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Sun, 19 Apr 2026 18:27:52 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

Aigueperse - Notre-Dame

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 13:13:17 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

Notre-Dame is the present parish church of Aigueperse

The first construction work dates back to 1016. However, it only acquired its final form at the end of the 12th century, when the chancel and transept were built in their present form. It is considered the first Gothic building in the Auvergne. In 1253, it was elevated to the status of a collegiate church.

The church was completely restored in 1865. The nave and facade were rebuilt in 1880, replacing a nave that had been reconstructed in 1734 after its collapse in 1727. A new bell tower north of the transept replaced the one destroyed during the French Revolution.

Le Monastier-sur-Gazeille – Saint Chaffre

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Sun, 14 Dec 2025 18:22:47 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

Legends tell, that a small community of hermits lived here in the 6th century. A century later the group was led by (Saint) Eudes and after him by Eudes´ nephew (Saint) Theofrede. Theofrede got killed by the locals - and so he became a martyr named Saint Chaffre.

The monastery adopted the Benedictine rule in 817 and found support from Louis the Pious. In the following two centuries three churches were erected here. All collapsed due to the unstable ground. The current, former abbey church was built from 1074 on.

The monastery (and the relics of Saint Chaffre) were just a day´s walk from Le Puy, where the Via Podiensis started and many pilgrims gathered. It may well be, that the wealthiness of the abbey, was related to the pilgrim-business.

It has a polychrome facade with a unique frieze under the roof, but the interior is remarkable as well. The nave is Romanesque, but got altered a couple of times, the Gothic choir was done end of the 15th century, replacing an olderone. Along the nave are still Romanesque capitals.

The nave as seen from the gallery

Le Monastier-sur-Gazeille – Saint Chaffre

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Sun, 14 Dec 2025 16:54:43 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

Le Monastier-sur-Gazeille – Place du Couvent

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 18:59:49 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

Legends tell, that a small community of hermits lived here in the 6th century. A century later the group was led by (Saint) Eudes and after him by Eudes´ nephew (Saint) Theofrede. Theofrede got killed by the locals - and so he became a martyr named Saint Chaffre.

The monastery adopted the Benedictine rule in 817 and found support from Louis the Pious. In the following two centuries three churches were erected here. All collapsed due to the unstable ground. The current, former abbey church was built from 1074 on.

The monastery (and the relics of Saint Chaffre) were just a day´s walk from Le Puy, where the Via Podiensis started and many pilgrims gathered. It may well be, that the wealthiness of the abbey, was related to the pilgrim-business.

The Place du Couvent is located on the site of the former cloister. The former monastery building has been converted into a cultural center and also houses a small museum.

Caen - Saint-Étienne

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Mon, 29 Sep 2025 11:14:59 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

Caen experienced rapid urban development in the 11th century. It was the center of a ducal domain and possessed markets and a port. It initially flourished as an important city in the Duchy of Normandy under William the Conqueror. He had a strong fortress built in Caen, as well as an abbey for women (Abbaye aux dames) and one for men (Abbaye aux hommes) around 1059, in which he was also buried. He had the monasteries built to atone for his marriage to his cousin Matilda, which was disapproved by the Pope. Both monasteries are among the most important architectural monuments in Normandy and are now used as parish churches.

Saint-Étienne is the former monastery church of the Benedictine "Abbaye aux hommes". Construction of the church began in 1065/66 at the eastern end. It was consecrated in 1077 under the first abbot, Lanfranc of Bec of Pavia, who was appointed Bishop of Canterbury in 1070. The facade towers were completed in the last decade of the 11th century. From 1120/25, the former wooden ceiling in the nave was replaced by a six-part cross-ribbed vault. Around 1200, the conversion of the original stepped choir into a Gothic ambulatory began. Also in the 13th century, the Gothic pointed spires were added to the Romanesque west towers.

Stalls

Greece, Holy Meteora, The Monastery of St. Varlaam (taken with a long lens)

nobody@ipernity.com (Alexander Prolygin) — Sat, 06 Sep 2025 05:31:23 +0000

Alexander Prolygin has posted:

Greece, Holy Meteora, The Monastery of Saint Nicholas Anapafsas among Cliffs

nobody@ipernity.com (Alexander Prolygin) — Tue, 02 Sep 2025 18:17:28 +0000

Alexander Prolygin has posted:

Monastery in the name of Saint Nicholas Anapafsas is one of the six Meteora monasteries that have survived to this day.
The exact time of the monastery's foundation is unknown. It is believed that the first ascetics appeared on this small and relatively low rock in the 13th century, and the founder of the monastery was the monk Nikanor Anapavs.

Greece, Holy Meteora, The Monastery of Saint Nicholas Anapafsas on the Top of the Cliff

nobody@ipernity.com (Alexander Prolygin) — Wed, 03 Sep 2025 11:22:50 +0000

Alexander Prolygin has posted:

Lierde - Sint-Martinuskerk

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Tue, 02 Sep 2025 10:49:54 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

A Carthusian monastery was founded here in 1329. The Carthusians were a strict, praying hermit order who live in community and were founded in France in 1084. EmperorCarthusian´s aim was to reduce the number of contemplative orders that he considered useless to society. So the order was suppressed in 1783.

The old monastery church was then used as a parish church in the 18th century. The present-day St. Martin's Church, built between 1722 and 1730 on the site of the then old monastery church.

Greece, Holy Meteora, The Monastery of Roussanou (or Saint Barbara) and the Monastery of Saint Nicholas Anapafsas

nobody@ipernity.com (Alexander Prolygin) — Sun, 31 Aug 2025 18:27:44 +0000

Alexander Prolygin has posted:

The Monastery of Roussanou (or Saint Barbara) in the center close up and the Monastery of Saint Nicholas Anapafsas on the left in the distance. Both monasteries are among the six surviving monasteries of Meteora.

Greece, Holy Meteora, The Monastery of St.Varlaam

nobody@ipernity.com (Alexander Prolygin) — Tue, 26 Aug 2025 11:42:31 +0000

Alexander Prolygin has posted:

Greece, Holy Meteora, The Kitchen in Use in the Monastery of Saint Stephen

nobody@ipernity.com (Alexander Prolygin) — Wed, 27 Aug 2025 13:57:09 +0000

Alexander Prolygin has posted:

The Monastery of Saint Stephen is an Orthodox women's monastery on one of the cliffs of Thessaly in the Trikala prefecture, Greece. It is one of the six surviving Meteora monasteries.

Liège - Collégiale Saint-Jean l'Évangéliste

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Wed, 27 Aug 2025 20:43:38 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

Liège is the center of the largest Walloon agglomeration, and the cultural center of the Walloon region of Belgium. The city, with a population of about 200.000, is located at the confluence of the Ourthe and Meuse rivers.

Around 705, Saint Lambert of Maastricht is credited with completing the Christianization of the region, but conversion may still not have been quite universal, since Lambert was murdered in Liège. To enshrine his relics, the successor, Hubertus (later St. Hubert), built a basilica which became the nucleus of the city.
In 1468, following an uprising of the inhabitants against Burgundian rule, xof Burgundy had the city plundered and systematically destroyed. The few survivors who had fled into the forests—Charles the Bold allegedly had more than 5,000 inhabitants murdered—were only able to return to the city for reconstruction after seven years.

In 1789, partly in connection with the French Revolution, the Liège Revolution occurred. It was directed against the absolutist rule of the Prince-Bishop and was crushed in early 1791 by troops commissioned by the Holy Roman Empire. In 1795, Liège was occupied by French troops and became part of the First French Republic. The Congress of Vienna annexed it to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which in 1830 became the Kingdom of Belgium, to which Liège has belonged ever since.

The Collegiate Church of St. John the Evangelist was founded as a collegiate church by Notker of Liège around 980, and consecrated in 987. The church was a kind of replica of Charlemagne's Aachen Cathedral. It was suppressed in 1797 during the French Revolution, the building being confiscated and sold in 1798.

The center, originally an octagonal building in Mosan Romanesque style, incorporating elements of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, the church was completely rebuilt in a late Baroque style in 1754–1784. It has been in use as a parish church since 1809.

The church is currently being restored.

Greece, Holy Meteora, The Monastery of St.Varlaam and the Megala Meteora Monastery

nobody@ipernity.com (Alexander Prolygin) — Tue, 26 Aug 2025 04:15:18 +0000

Alexander Prolygin has posted:

The Monastery of St.Varlaam or All Saints is one of the active monasteries of Meteora. It is believed that the monastery received its name from the monk Varlaam, the first settler who climbed the rock in the first half of the 14th century and built a small temple dedicated to the Three Hierarchs. It is also known that the monk Varlaam was a contemporary of St. Athanasius of Meteora, who founded the Megala Meteora Monastery.
The Great Meteoron Monastery or the Megala Meteora Monastery is a monastery in honor of the Transfiguration of the Lord in Greece, the largest and oldest Orthodox monastery among the Meteoron, founded in the early 14th century by the monk Athanasios on one of the Meteoron rocks in Thessaly, near the village of Kastrakion. In 1988, the Great Meteoron Monastery, along with other Meteoron monasteries, was included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Greece.

Italy, Urbino, The Church and the Tower of the Convent of St.Francis

nobody@ipernity.com (Alexander Prolygin) — Wed, 06 Aug 2025 13:18:27 +0000

Alexander Prolygin has posted:

The Convent of San Francesco is the convent of the Friars Minor Conventual and one of the main religious buildings in the city of Urbino, in the Marche region.
The church can be considered Urbino's Pantheon, due to the numerous marble slabs of many illustrious figures from Urbino.
The presence of the Franciscan fathers in Urbino is very ancient, dating back to the period in which Saint Francis of Assisi was still alive (1182 - 1226). The church was completed in 1350 with the completion of the cusped bell tower. In the 13th century a wonderful cloister was also built in which the Counts of Urbino and other important figures of the city were buried.

Liège - Cathédrale Saint-Paul

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Sun, 17 Aug 2025 20:58:27 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

Liège is the center of the largest Walloon agglomeration, and the cultural center of the Walloon region of Belgium. The city, with a population of about 200.000, is located at the confluence of the Ourthe and Meuse rivers.

Around 705, Saint Lambert of Maastricht is credited with completing the Christianization of the region, but conversion may still not have been quite universal, since Lambert was murdered in Liège. To enshrine his relics, the successor, Hubertus (later St. Hubert), built a basilica which became the nucleus of the city.
In 1468, following an uprising of the inhabitants against Burgundian rule, xof Burgundy had the city plundered and systematically destroyed. The few survivors who had fled into the forests—Charles the Bold allegedly had more than 5,000 inhabitants murdered—were only able to return to the city for reconstruction after seven years.

In 1789, partly in connection with the French Revolution, the Liège Revolution occurred. It was directed against the absolutist rule of the Prince-Bishop and was crushed in early 1791 by troops commissioned by the Holy Roman Empire. In 1795, Liège was occupied by French troops and became part of the First French Republic. The Congress of Vienna annexed it to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which in 1830 became the Kingdom of Belgium, to which Liège has belonged ever since.
Bishop Ebrachar founded a collegiate here in 966 on what was then an island between two branches of the Meuse.

Construction of the present church began in 1240. The first phase included the choir, the transept, and the two bays of the eastern nave. The church was consecrated in1289. The second, High Gothic construction phase began after 1333 and included the four western bays of the nave, the side portal, the chapels of the side aisles, the polygonal apse, and finally the tower. At the beginning of the 16th century, the west portal was added next to the tower.

In 1794, during the French Revolution, the demolition of the huge St. Lambert's Cathedral began. Under the supervision of a "Commission destructive de la cathédrale". In 1803, the two towers on the facade were destroyed. By 1827, almost the entire complex had been leveled.

After the revolution subsided, the population sought a replacement and chose the Collegiate Church as the church closest to the city center. After the church was elevated to cathedral status in 1804, the tower was raised by a bell tower and a spire; The western towers of the destroyed St. Lambert's Cathedral served as a model. A comprehensive restoration in the Neo-Gothic style took place between 1850 and 1875. The choir received two additional side aisles, and the entire exterior façade was decorated with statues and ornamental elements.

Italy, Urbino, The Tower of the Convent of St.Francis

nobody@ipernity.com (Alexander Prolygin) — Wed, 06 Aug 2025 18:11:12 +0000

Alexander Prolygin has posted:

The Convent of San Francesco is the convent of the Friars Minor Conventual and one of the main religious buildings in the city of Urbino.
The presence of the Franciscan fathers in Urbino is very ancient, dating back to the period in which Saint Francis of Assisi was still alive (1182 - 1226). The church was completed in 1350 with the completion of the cusped bell tower.