ancient monasteries
Old religious retreats
Ancient monasteries are religious communities established in earlier historical periods, typically centuries old, where monks or nuns lived in seclusion devoted to prayer and contemplation.
The phrase usually evokes medieval European or Asian sites—stone buildings, cloisters, and a sense of spiritual heritage: We toured the ancient monasteries of Tibet.
Many survive as tourist destinations or active religious houses.
- Desert FathersFounding Christian monastics
- refectoryInstitutional dining room
- stone wallsRefuses to cooperate
- cloisterCovered monastic walkway
- Byzantine EmpireMedieval eastern Roman state
chanting · gregorian chant · illuminated manuscripts · apse · herbal medicine · meditation · iconography · liturgy · nave · bell tower · holy orders · fasting · prayer beads · crypt · library archives · frescoes · abbots · sacred texts
- Tigraystelae
- BamiyanBuddha statues, Buddhist caves, cave temples, niches, caves
- Syriac ChristiansAssyrians, Chaldeans, Aramaic, Jacobites, patriarchs
ancient monasteriesmegachurches
Very large Protestant congregations
new construction · storefront churches · parish churches · community churches
ancient monasteriesshopping malls
Large enclosed retail centers
corporate headquarters · casinos · nightclubs · stock exchanges · factories
ancient, anciently, ancientness, monastery, monastic, monasticism, monkish