Crete-Discover the Unknown Crete

Inside the monastery the monks have
organised an interesting museum with
antique engravings, illuminated
manuscripts, historical documents and holy
icons, an outstanding example of which is
the work painted by the eighteenth-century
artist Ioannis Kornaros when he was only
twenty-five years old. The icon is inspired by
the psalm "Lord, thou art great", and
represents 61 biblical scenes (in particular,
the creation) with hundreds of figures in the
style of the miniaturists.
The monastery's
museum has a rich
collection of
ancient documents
and icons: the most
famous is the
painting by Ioannis
Kornaros
The monastery of Toplou also possesses
a precious stone tablet with Greek
inscriptions dating from 146 B.C., this is the
treaty between the city states of Itanos and
Hierapytna concerning the ownership of
and trading rights regarding the purple dye
that was produced on the island of
Koufonissi. The arbitrator in this dispute was
the governor of the Roman city of Magnesia
in Asia Minor where an identical copy of the
ancient treaty has been found. The
inscription was discovered in 1834 at Itanos
by the British diplomat and traveller Robert
Pashley, who brought it to Toplou where it
was reused as an altar table and later walled
into the facade of the chapel.
The inscription on
the stone tablet
tells of the treaty
made between the
city states of Itanos
and Hierapytna in
the year 146 B.C.
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