On a wing and a prayer: The extraordinary hanging monasteries that cling to the sides of cliffs When you”re trying to connect with your god, it helps to find some peace and quiet, if you can. But that was, indeed, no such problem for the architects of these impossibly built monasteries. Constructed at dizzying heights on the sides of mountains, they ensured only the most devoted – and vertigo-free – followers would join them for prayer.