Description of the attraction
The Monastery of Saint Ignatius, or the Monastery of Limonos, is an active male monastery on the island of Lesvos. The monastery is located about 14 km north-west of the town of Kalloni in the middle of a picturesque meadow, because of which the name "limonos", which means "meadow" in Greek, was actually stuck behind it. It is the largest monastery and one of the most important religious centers of the island.
The holy monastery was founded as the Monastery of the Archangel Michael in 1526 by Saint Ignatius on the ruins of an old Byzantine monastery, abandoned in 1462, after the troops of the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II captured the island of Lesbos. On the initiative of Saint Ignatius, the school "Leimonias" was founded at the monastery and soon the holy monastery turned not only into the spiritual, but also the educational center of the island (the institution operated until 1923).
The monastery's catholicon is an impressive three-aisled basilica built in 1526. Despite the fact that during its history the building has undergone a number of changes, the structure founded dates back to the 16th century. Old wall paintings of the 16-17th centuries have also been well preserved to this day. Of course, for women, access to the monastery's catholicon is strictly prohibited, and the courtyard can only be entered on the day of St. Ignatius, October 14.
The Monastery of Saint Ignatius has an impressive collection of artifacts - icons, vestments of clergymen, church utensils, coins, various ethnographic objects and much more. In the library of the monastery there are about 5,000 volumes, among which there are quite a few and rare copies (the earliest editions date from the 15th century), as well as an impressive historical archive and collection of Byzantine and post-Byzantine manuscripts.
