Description of the attraction
About 5 km north of the city of Skiathos on the island of the same name is the monastery of Panagi Evangelista. The holy monastery is located on a picturesque mountain slope surrounded by lush vegetation (mainly pine trees).
The monastery of Panagi Evangelista 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 Athos monks and built according to drawings brought from the sacred Mount Athos. The local monk Grigorios Karastamatis and the monk from the island of Chios Niphon, who in fact was the first abbot of the monastery until 1809, directly participated 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 covered with gray slate tiles. A stunning carved wooden iconostasis has been preserved here. There are also chapels of St. John and St. Demetrius on the territory of the monastery.
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 the 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.
The monastery has a small church museum. 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. The monastery also regularly hosts exhibitions of local products produced by the monks. All of them are of high quality and prepared according to traditional recipes from pure raw materials, but, however, they have a limited quantity.
Today, most of the monastery has been restored and is very popular with guests of the island.
