Large framed painting. The image is set in a mountainous region with a monestary on top of one of the peaks. On the right side there is one of the peaks, it is thin and the brush strokes make it appear to be very jagged. There is a gap between it and another set of peaks that are set next to each other and coming off of a flatter portion that extends from the bottom center of the paining to the middle left side. There is another two peak also coming from this flattened portion, but are coming from the left side, one cut in half by the frame and the other partially covered by the other. There is one large, square peak which is almost in the center of the painting, slightly more to the left than dead center, and there is a grey platform that is connecting it to the other smaller peak at the right. On top of this peak is a three dimensional building, a monestary. It is painted white and there is a obelisk tower that is on the inside right of the structure. The rocks are all painted in the same color, a wash/combination of green, red, orange, blue, pink, brown, and yellow. Black is used to create edges of the rocks, making them appear jagged and the enviorment more harsh.
Inbetween the two peaks on the right it looks like there is a flat plain. It is colored with lighter creams and pinks with a few grey spots made to look like trees in the distance. At the other edge of the plain is another mountain range, done in a much lighter coloring than the front set. It is mixed with light pinks and light tones of blue and white. The ski of the painting is mixed with mainly orange and red, but with a few hints of blue and pink. In the bottom left hand corner is the intials "V.G.Scholomiti"
The frame is a darker greyish stained wood. It has about a three inch wide piece of wood surrounding with a half inch wide and comes up about half an inch from the bordered wood plank.
The back has the unstained wood and the planks that are holding the canvas in place sets into the frame about an inch and is nailed in place. There are metal hooks on each side, connected by two yellow ropes. On the top of the back side of the frame, hand written in black sharpie is "Meteora, Greece Monastery" to the left of that, also hand written is "V.G.Scholomiti" and under that is "Pauline Karalis' Sister".

Painted by Virginia G. Scholomiti. Madden name Gianakopulos. She is the aunt of Elena Karalis and lived in Chicago. Like Elena she to studied at the Art Institute.
The area of Meteora was originally settled by monks who lived in caves within the rocks during the 11th Century. But as the times became more unsure during an age of Turkish occupation, brigandry and lawlessness, they climbed higher and higher up the rock face until they were living on the inaccessable peaks where they were able to build by bringing material and people up with ladders and baskets and build the first monasteries. This was also how the monasteries were reached until the nineteen twenties and now there are roads, pathways and steps to the top. There are still examples of these baskets which are used for bringing up provisions. Back in the days when these baskets were the only way to get to the monasteries a nervous pilgrim asked his monk host if they ever replace the rope. "Of course we do" he replied."Whenever it breaks", which I am sure put the guy at ease. But now you don't have to worry about ropes breaking since the monasteries are all connected by a series of pathworks that if you begin early enough you can see them all in one day. They are also connected by roads so if you are coming by car and don't have all day to wander around you can also get close enough and then continue on foot.
During the Turkish occupation it was the monasteries which kept alive the Hellenic culture and traditions and were not only religious centers but academic and artistic as well. It is believed that were it not for the monasteries, Hellenic culture would have disappeared and modern Greece would be a reflection of the Ottoman empire with little knowledge of its roots and history. The monasteries attracted not only the deeply religious, but the philosophers, poets, painters and the deep thinkers of Greece. Today only six of the monasteries are active.
-Agia Triada or Holy Trinity was founded by the monk Dometius in the 15th century and was the monastery used for the James Bond film For Your Eyes Only. It is decorated with wall paintings from the 18th century by the brothers Antonios and Nikolaos. To get to the monastery you walk up 140 steps cut into the rock, past the church of Saint John the Baptis with its wall paintings from 1682.
-Varlaam Monastery was founded in 1517 by Theophanis and Nektarios Apsaradas from Ioanina though the first to establish a monastery here was an ascetic anchorite named Varlaam. The monastery houses an important collection of relics, intricately carved wooden crosses, icons, embroidered epitaphoi and many other ecliastical treasures. It also contains frescos by the well-known post Byzantine iconographer Frangos Katelanos.
-Monastery of Agios Nikolaos Anapafsas was built in the 16th Century by Dionysious, the Metropolitan of Larissa and named after an old Patron. The Katholikon is decorated in wall paintings by the renowned Cretan Iconographer Theophanis Bathas-Strelitzas.
-Roussanou Monastery was founded in 1545 by Joasaph and Maximos, two brothers from Epirus who built it on the ruins of an even older church. To get to this monastery you cross a small bridge from another peak. The church contains outstanding wall paintings, wood iconstasis, panel icons and icon stands.
-Megalo Meteoro or Metamorphisis, the first church of the Transfiguration is the best known of the Monasteries and is built upon the highest rock. Founded by Athanasios the Meteorite, one of the most well-known figures in Orthodox monasticism, work was begun before 1382 and later completed by the Monk Joasaph. Because the Serbian Emporor Symeon Uros gave the monastry all his wealth and became a monk it became the richest and most powerful of all the monasteries and contains some of the most beautiful wall paintings and post Byzantine Mural art that can be found in Greece as well as a museum collection in the refectory. The katholikon has a twelve sided dome 24 meters in height with a striking series of frescos by Theophanis which depect the persecution of Christians by the Romans in somewhat gruesome detail.
-Agios Stefanos is the only convent in Meteora and has an unimpeded view of the plain towards Kalambaka. It is not known when the old church was built but the present katholikon dedicated to Saint Haralambos was built in 1798. The saint's skull which was given to the nuns as a gift from Prince Vladislav of Wallachia is kept here. The church of Saint Stefanos has a timber roof and wall paintings by the priest Ioannis from Stagoi painted in 1545.

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