Description of the attraction
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, there is one of the most famous and interesting shrines of Crete - the active monastery of 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, and today they can be seen in the Heraklion Church Museum.
In 1648, in the walls of Vrontisi, the abbot and monks who fled from the monastery of Arkadi seized by the Turks found a temporary refuge. 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), well preserved to this day, where you can still admire fragments of wall paintings from the 14-15th centuries and an arched bell tower, erected in a 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.
