Saint George of F(a)landra
Τhe monastery of St. George of F(a)landra is located on a hill of Festos, just 100 km to the southwest of the entrance to the archaeological area. Its exact date of foundation is unknown even though its surviving catholicon is dated to the late Venetian period. The existence of the monastery of St. George “of Douvrika,” or of Falandra, is mentioned in a bestowal document of February 1586 to the blessed Father Auxentios Loumbinas with a register of all its portable property. Additional testimonies for its function during the period of Turkish occupation constitute the Turkish legal transaction documents of the late 17th and early 18th centuries, one of which mentions its abbot, Neophytos Tzortzis. Its function ends with its destruction by the Turks during the revolution of 1821. The particularly spacious catholicon belongs to the barrel-vaulted, single-nave church plan while to the northwest corner, survives a tower-like belfry, not at its original height, similar to that of the monastery of Vrontisi. The church was probably twin-naved, as we can deduce from the large arch of the north side which can be seen on the exterior. The buildings which surrounded the catholicon were already entirely in ruins at the end of the 19th century. Today any trace of the buildings has been lost as they were used for construction material in the 1950s.
