Breathtaking Monasteries Around the World

Tiger's Nest, Bhutan

Tiger’s Nest Monastery (Bhutan)

Taktshang is the most famous of monasteries in Bhutan. It hangs on a cliff at 3,120 metres (10,200 feet), some 700 meters (2,300 feet) above the bottom of Paro valley. Famous visitors include Ngawang Namgyal in the 17th century and Milarepa.
The name means “Tiger’s nest”, the legend being that Padmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche) flew there on the back of a tiger. The monastery includes seven temples which can all be visited. The monastery suffered several blazes and is a recent restoration. Climbing to the monastery is on foot or mule.

Madonna del Sasso, Switzerland

Madonna del Sasso Monastery (Switzerland)

This beautiful pilgrimage church Madonna del Sasso with its Capuchin monastery is towering high above Locarno. The old town enjoys the most glorious of locations, on a broad sweeping curve of a bay in the lake, and also clocks up the most sunshine hours of anywhere in Switzerland.
The monastery has a spectacular view of the town beneath it was built to honour the Virgin Mary, who was said to have appeared in a vision in 1480 and was completed by 17th century. The monastery’s museum hosts a remarkable collection of sacred art. The twenty-minute walk up through the lush ravine of the Torrente Ramogno is a romance in itself..

Yumbulagan, Tibet

Yumbulagang Monastery (Tibet)

Yumbulagang , palace of mother and son in Tibetan dialect, is the first palace and one of the earliest buildings in Tibet and it has a history of more than 2,000 years. Destroyed during the Cultural Revolution it was rebuilt in the 1980s. The walls are painted with beautiful murals which tell the early history of Tibet.
It’s said that it was built for Nyatri Tsanpo, the first Tibetan King by Bon believers in the 2nd century BC. Then it became the summer palace of Songtsan Gampo and Princess Wencheng. The 5thDalai Lama changed it as the monastery of Old-Yellow Hat Sect (Kadamspa).

Gregoriou, Greece

Gregoriou Monastery (Greece)

The Monastery of Gregoriou was built on a beautiful location at the south-west side of Mount Athos, dedicated to Saint Nicholas. The monastery was founded in the 14th century. It occupies the seventeenth rank in the hierarchical order of the twenty Athonite monasteries. It is considered to be one of the most well-organised and strict coenobitic monasteries. It is inhabited by 70 monks (1990). Its katholikon was built in 1768, in accordance to the Athonite plan. The church’s walls were decorated in 1779 by the holy monks Gabriel and Gregory from Kastoria. The Church’s narthex (vestibule) was added later. Aside from the katholikon, the monastery also features many chapels. The library is relatively poor since it was destroyed by raids and fire during the revolution of 1821.
The library is richly stocked and well-organised. It contains some 804 manuscript codices, theological, ecclesiastical or liturgical works. One manuscript is an illuminated 13th century Holy Bible.

The Metéora, Greece

Metéora Monastery (Greece)

The Metéora (Greek: “suspended rocks”, “suspended in the air” or “in the heavens above”) is one of the largest and most important complex of monasteries in Greece, second only to Mount Athos.
The monasteries are built on natural sandstone rock pillars, at the northwestern edge of the Plain of Thessaly near the Peneios river and Pindus Mountains, in central Greece. The Metéora is home to six monasteries and is included on the UNESCO World Heritage List.6.