patmos MUSEUMS, MONASTIRIES AND OTHER TOURISTIC PLACES

General Info

History

Sightseeing's

Information

Map

SIGHTSEEING'S

The chapel of Osios Christodoulos with its marble sarcophagus and wooden shrine with the tabernacle of the Apostle John is located on the south side. The internal shrine leads to the main temple that has across like shape and dome. The very beautiful wooden carved icon screen from 1820 comprises a gift from Sardeon Nektarios, while the large icon of the Apocalypse from 1625 in the entrance of the vestry is a gift from Nikoforos of Laodikeia. The external vestry is used for the protection of books and utensils, while the internal vestry is used for the protection of relics of priceless value.

The south side of the temple you will find the chapel of Panagia, which communicates with the main temple with two doors. In the chapel you will see a fantastic wooden carved icon screen of 1607 and many icons from the 12th century.

Following that is the altar with an octagonal dome, which was used as the dining area by the monks during the years of commune living. On the walls there a many paintings from the 17th century while generally in this area there are ancient inscriptions and architectural sections.

Chora

The door on the south wall leads to the kitchen and right next to it there is the mill. Returning to the main courtyard a door ends up to a storage area, which was called Oreion, the bakery and kneading room. The whole architectural setting of the buildings are completed with the cells of the monks, the rooms, courtyards, staircases and tile covered domes.

The chapels that are located in the grounds are those of Agion Panton, Stavros of Tzafara, Agios Vasilios and Agios Nikolaos. Very important is the library of the monastery, which includes over 3000 rare books, 900 codes, and 1300 documents and a record room with over 13.000 documents which contain the history of the monastery is saved.

The most spectacular of all is the vestry of the Monastery, which contains relics of priceless value which are divided in four categories. One, the over 60 holy corpses and parts of the holy wood, second the over 200 icons, third the gold and silver holy utensils and forth more than 600 containers. The famous Pantmian School resides in the Monastery, which used to be the spiritual center of the island up until 1769 when the Patriachate renamed it to the "Public School of the Nation".

A great number of important personalities of the island were cultivated here, between them was the founder of Filiki Etairia, Emmanuel Xanthos. Especially during the years of the Turkish reign, the school contributed in the rebirth and the intellectual awakening of the Greek nation. A bit further down is the Town Hall and it operates as the administrative, spiritual and cultural center of the island. At the city of Chora there is no specific area that comprises the marketplace of the island, but there are various food stores spread out in various places. For accommodation you can rent a room, as there is no hotel accommodation.

On the east side of Chora the women's monastery of Zoodohou Pigi, which was founded in 1607 by Parthenios Pangostas is situated and devoted to Christ the Savior and his mother.

It comprises the second complex of buildings after the Monastery of Theologos and includes the church of Zoodohou Pigi, the church of Apostle John, the cells of the monks and their courtyards.

In the area of the gulf of Kipous on the west of Chora, the monastery of Evangelismos is located, which was built in 1613 by Nikiforos Xartofilax as a dedication to the Evangelist Loukas. In 1947 The nuns of the monastery founded an all girls orphanage of Rhodes and a school of handicrafts and sowing for the girls of the island.

Skala
The only harbor of the island which is surrounded by a narrow natural bay that with its neck shape divides the island almost in two. During the 17th century there were no buildings in the harbor only some warehouses and due to the raids of the pirates the residents lived in Chora. At the end of the 19th century the port changed appearance and was transformed to a rich commercial and shipping center that helped in the flourishing of the whole island.

During the Venetian domination the port was converted to an administrative center and many buildings of the Italian Guard, the post office, and customs office were built. With the joining of the island with motherland Greece, many beautiful neoclassical buildings that are used as homes and stores were built.

Especially in the last few decades tourism has transformed Scala to a tourist coastal resort. In the port there is a wide dock, a beautiful beach and on the west side you will find the picturesque bay of Hochlakas with its crystal clear deep blue Aegean waters.

The Cave of the Apocalypse
It is situated between Chora and Scala and it is said that this is there were Apostle John wrote the "Apocalypse". Surrounding the cave is a monastery were John used do live during the period of 95-97 A.C. The monastery in its whole constitutes of an architectural composition of disorderly built chapels of various heights and cylinder like roofs, their courtyards and the cells of the monks. The whole scenery though manages to fascinate its visitor with its simple and plain shaped buildings and its very beautiful blossoming courtyards.

On the road leading to the Holy Cave you will come across the chapel of Agios Nikolaos, of Agios Artemios and Agia Sofia. The Cave of the Apocalypse is 4 meters deep and a monk of the monastery that does the tour, will show you the Triassic rupture from were the voice that encouraged John to write the Apocalypse.

|Back| |Next|

|History|

|Map|