Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
the landing stage, but also occupies the site of another Byzantine
monastery on a hill to the west. This site preserves the only surviving
Byzantine church in the Islands, and a very interesting one. Dedicated
to the Blessed Virgin Kamariotissa, it is a tiny chapel of the quatrefoil
or tetraconch variety, that is, with a central dome surrounded by four
semidomes over exedrae, three of which project on the outside, the
fourth being contained within the narthex. The other church of this
plan in the city, that of St. Mary of the Mongols, has been completely
wrecked by subsequent rebuilding, so that the present little chapel is
the only example of its kind that more or less preserves its original
plan. The chapel is attributed to Maria Comnena, third wife of John
VIII Palaeologus and the last Empress of Byzantium. It was built
some time between 1427 and 1439 and is thus the last known church
to be erected in the city before the Turkish Conquest. The church
remained in the possession of the Greek community up until 1942,
when it was confiscated by the government. It is not generally open
to the public, but permission to visit it may be obtained from the
Commandant of the Naval School.
On the shore south of the village, just beyond the grounds of
the Naval School, we see the monastery of Haghios Georgios tou
Kremnou (St. George on the Clif). The setting is quite beautiful,
with pines, cypresses and other trees embowering the picturesque
buildings of the monastery above the blue Marmara. The monastery
is believed to have been founded in the years 1586-93; it is still
functioning, though with only one or two monks in residence.
There is another monastery on the south-west coast of the island,
that of St. Spyridon. This little monastery was founded in 1868 and
restored in 1968 by the then Patriarch, Athenagoras. The katholikon
of the monastery remains in use, though services are held there only
occasionally. There are the remnants of still another monastery, that
of the Metamorphosis of Christ the Saviour, on the peak known as
Baltacıoğlu Tepesi at the south-eastern end of the island. This was
founded in 1835; all that remains today is a small chapel and an attached
house, both embowered in a picturesque setting on the hilltop.
The Greek church of St. Nicholas dominates the main square in
the village. It was erected in 1857 on the ruins of a Byzantine church
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