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Monastery of Agios Nikolaos Batova

The monastery of Agios Nikolaos, which is located close to the rock of Agia and southwest of Kastraki, was founded in the middle of the 14th century AD and its original name was Kofinas. Already in the book "Chronicle of Meteors", which was written in 1529 AD, there is a special mention of the vineyards of Agios Nikolaos of Kofinas. At the beginning of the 17th century AD the monastery was referred to as a cell that belonged to the Great Meteoron, while from the middle of the 19th c. AD begins its mention as the monastery of Agios Nikolaos Batova. The etymology of its name is unknown and it apparently came from the surname of an abbot, a name which also characterized the rock where the monastery is housed.

Going up to the polydaeled cave where the monastery is located on the fifth floor we meet the church of Agios Nikolaos the miracle worker. An inscription inside the monastery informs us that in 1876 a major renovation took place and also about the building activity of the nun Eugenia, the first known nun of Meteora and renovator of the holy monastery of Agios Nikolaos Batova. Since 1994 and under the auspices of the venerable former Metropolitan of Stagion and Meteora Mr. Seraphim, Agios Nikolaos has been a member of the Holy Monastery of Agia Triado and since then the new book of the history of the once famous monastery of Kofinia begins. The current restoration of the monastery began in the years 1997-99 AD and the complete recovery and formation of the holy cave of Agios Nikolaos Batova was carried out under the abbot of the Agia Triad monastery Father Chrysostomos Tetsios and his entourage, with the assistance of the Ministry of Culture and sponsorships believers. The contractor and artist Dimitris Tsanatelis of Kalambaki undertook the reconstruction and shaping of the caves into a six-story hermitage, while the simple iconostasis that the monastery has is a work of art by Nikolaos Kyrgias of Kalambaki. We can also find relics of inestimable religious and cultural value such as silver candlesticks, holy vessels and gifts of Cypriot pilgrims. In the holy step of the carved temple, old frescoes of the 18th and 19th centuries AD are preserved, which were renovated in the years 1881 AD and 1882 AD.

The hermitage is configured as we mentioned before on six levels. On the ground level is the entrance, on the second level is the shrine for the candles, on the third level are two cells with the exoskeleton and the air carrier, on the fourth level the exoskeleton and the auxiliary spaces. On the fifth level, the widest vestibule and the temple, a small graceful mansion with Metsovita textiles, as well as another ascetic cell. In the sixth cell (attic), the outer chamber and the cistern.

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