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Aretiou Monastery
The religious heart of this little-frequented
territory is the sixteenth-century Aretiou
Monastery (or Monastery of the Holy
Trinity) articulated in various buildings
around an ample courtyard with the
katholikon, the monks' church, which still
contains some precious seventeenthcentury
icons. The founder, Marcos
Papadopoulos, gathered around him many
of the famous artists and intellectuals of the
period, and on his death in 1603 he left
generous donations to the monastery asking
that they be used to continue his charitable
work for the poor, but also to support those
artists of holy images who were worthy and
talented, as was Kosmas Vartzagis, known as
"the Master of Areti". Surrounded by high
walls, the monastery defended itself well
against the continual attacks by the
Ottomans, and survived. Nowadays Aretiou
Monastery is the most important monastic
complex on the Gulf of Mirambelo and is the
destination for many pilgrims and travellers
in search of tranquillity and reflection.
Aretiou
Monastery
is a fortified
monastery and
survived the
Turkish occupation
with no
great damage
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