TOUR BAZEOS
An ancient orthodox monastery dedicated to the Holy Cross hosting the annual Naxos Festival.
It is one of the emblematic monuments of the island. Since 2001, this former fortified monastery has been hosting the annual Naxos Festival: concerts, art exhibitions, open-air cinema, children's shows, theatre and a café.
Built around 1600, this impressive building was first an Orthodox monastery, dedicated to the Holy Cross (Timios Stavros), because of the supposed presence here of a relic of the cross on which Christ was put to death. Erected during the Ottoman period, its style is however closer to Venetian architecture. Indeed, while the Latin influence (Venetian and French) has continued, the Ottoman presence remained very weak in Naxos. Without a regular garrison, the island was often at the mercy of pirate raids, hence the need to fortify this religious building. But the powerful tower and the fortifications of this monastery also remind us that the feudal system set up by the Dukes of Naxos continued to exist after the arrival of the Ottomans. This imposing architecture was therefore also intended to impress the local population who were subjected to the Catholic lords and the Orthodox clergy. Abandoned by the monks at the beginning of the 19th century, the monastery was bought by the newly independent Greek state in 1834, housing potters for fifty years. It was then sold to the Bazeos family, whose descendants undertook the restoration in the late 1990s to open it to the public.
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