Monastery of Panagia Evangelistria description and photos - Greece: Skiathos Island (Topic)

Monastery of Panagia Evangelistria description and photos - Greece: Skiathos Island. Detailed information about the attraction. Description, photographs and a map showing the nearest significant objects. The name in English is Monastery of Panagia Evangelistria.

Photo and description

About 5 km north of the city of Skiathos, on the island of the same name, is the monastery of Panagi Evangelista. The holy abode is located on a picturesque mountainside surrounded by lush vegetation (mainly pine trees).

The Panagi Evangelista Monastery is of great religious importance and is one of the main attractions of the island, as well as one of the most important religious centers in the Northern Sporades archipelago ... The monastery was founded in 1794 by the Athos monks and built according to the drawings brought from the sacred Mount Athos. The local monk Grigorios Karastamatis and a monk from the island of Chios Niphon, who actually was the first abbot of the monastery until 1809, were directly involved in the construction.

The monastery complex covers an area of over 2000 sq. m. Separate buildings are located strictly along the perimeter, thus forming the monastery walls. The katholikon of the temple is a cruciform church with three domes, which are covered with gray slate tiles. A stunning carved wooden iconostasis has been preserved here. On the territory of the monastery there are also chapels of St. John and St. Demetrius.

During the Greek War of Independence, the monastery played an important role as a shelter for Greek rebels. Here in September 1807 such famous leaders of the Greek revolution as Theodoros Kolokotronis, Miaulis Andreas-Vokos and other rebels took the oath. At the same time, the first national Greek flag was woven in the monastery, blessed by the abbot and raised. In 1839, by decision of the Synod, the philosopher Theophilus Kairis was exiled to the monastery and spent 5 months here. Since 1850, the importance of the monastery began to decline and the number of monks living on its territory gradually decreased.

There is a small church museum in the monastery. Its exposition includes monastic vestments, rare books and manuscripts of the 17th century, the Gospel of the 18th century, wooden and silver crosses, Byzantine icons and other church relics. The building that housed the old olive presses houses the Folklore Museum. Also, the monastery regularly hosts exhibitions of local products that the monks produce. All of them are of high quality and prepared according to traditional recipes from pure raw materials, but, however, are limited in quantity.

Today, most of the monastery has been restored and is very popular with visitors to the island.

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Topic: Monastery of Panagia Evangelistria description and photos - Greece: Skiathos Island.