Vrontisi Monastery description and photos - Greece: Crete (Topic)

Vrontisi Monastery description and photos - Greece: Crete. Detailed information about the attraction. Description, photographs and a map showing the nearest significant objects. The name in English is Vrontisi Monastery.

Photo and description

About 50 km south-west of the city of Heraklion, on the southern slope of Mount Ida at an altitude of 550 m above sea level, is located one of the most famous and interesting shrines of Crete - a functioning monastery Vrontisi. It is one of the oldest monasteries on the island and an important historical monument.

The Vrontisi Monastery was founded in the 14th century as a courtyard of the nearby Varsamonerou Monastery. After 1500 the monastery of Varsamonerou fell into decay, while the monastery of Vrontisi developed and flourished, becoming an important spiritual and cultural center of the island during one of the most interesting periods in its history, known as the Cretan Revival. For some time, a talented icon painter and one of the outstanding representatives of the Cretan icon-painting school, Mikhail Damaskin, lived and worked in the monastery. Six of his most famous works were kept in the Vrontisi monastery until the end of the 18th century, but today they can be seen in the Church Museum of Heraklion.

In 1648, the abbot and monks who fled from seized by the Turks of the Arkadi monastery. In the 19th century, the well-fortified monastery became one of the key revolutionary centers of the island. In retaliation, the Turks destroyed the monastery, and many relics were destroyed.

Today, on the territory of the monastery, you can see the old two-nave church of Saints Anthony and Thomas (Catholicon Vrontisi), which has been well preserved to this day. where you can still admire fragments of murals from the 14th-15th centuries and an arched bell tower built in the characteristic Italian style. Of particular interest is the marble fountain (15th century) located at the entrance to the monastery with a very interesting sculptural composition symbolizing Adam and Eve and the four rivers of Eden. The massive fortress walls, which once reliably protected their inhabitants, unfortunately, are mostly destroyed.

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Topic: Vrontisi Monastery description and photos - Greece: Crete.