AGIA LAVRA MONASTERY IN KALAVRYTA
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A landmark in Greek history: it was here that Germanos de Patras is said to have launched the War of Independence on March 25, 1821.
Situated on a hill 933 m above sea level, the monastery of "Saint Lavra" (Ιερά Μονή Αγίας Λαύρας/Iera Moni Agias Lavras) is one of the most revered in Greece: according to the official version, it was here that the Metropolitan (Archbishop) Germanos of Patras started the War of Independence on March 25, 1821. Founded in 961 by a monk from the Megisti Lavra monastery of Athos, the complex was destroyed several times, most recently by German troops during the massacre of December 13, 1943. Outside, however, remains the plane tree under which Germanos is said to have launched his famous rallying cry on March 18, 1821: Eleftheria i Thanasos ("Freedom or Death"). And, still in front of the entrance, the "historic" church of the insurgents has been rebuilt. The monastery itself is a vast square fortress-like building, rebuilt in the 1950s. In the center, the catholicon preserves frescoes painted by a Russian monk in 1745 and traces of the 1943 fire. The monastery museum houses relics (including the skull of St. Alexis donated by Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus in 1398), icons, the gold-embroidered sakkos (tunic) of Germanos and the banner of the Kalavryta insurgents, considered to be the first modern Greek flag. Finally, the monastery is dominated by the Monument to the Heroic Fighters of 1821 (2 km walk). This 1971 column is adorned with three statues representing Liberty, the Clergy and the People.
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