intellectual centre - Orthodox Crete

Arkadi Monastery

Arkadi Monatery is perhaps the best known monastery on Crete due to the Holocaust of 1866. However, its location and impressive architecture make it all the more special. It is a large fortified complex built during the end of the period of Venetian rule. Apart from the monks’ cells, the central building also includes warehouses, […]

Agiou Pnevmatos (Holy Spirit) Monastery (Kissos)

This monastery was established in the late Byzantine period and only the small two-aisled church with a narthex has been preserved. Several documents from the 1635-1650 period refer to the monastery, which was probably at its prime then. During the 1821 Liberation Revolution, the Ottomans destroyed the monastery, slaughtered the monks and set fire to […]