DAPHNI MONASTERY

This monastery dedicated to the Mother of God (Ιερά Μονή Δαφνίου/Iera Moni Dafniou) is home to precious Byzantine mosaics with golden backgrounds from the late ^11th century. Since 1990, it has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, along with the monasteries of Ossios Loukas (Boeotia) and Nea Moni (Chios). It was founded in the ^6th century on the site of a temple dedicated to Apollo Dafni, which stood in a laurel grove(dafni in Greek) along the Sacred Way between Athens and Eleusis. Abandoned during the Slavic invasions (^7th-8th centuries), the complex was completely rebuilt from 1048 and decorated with mosaics. During the Latin occupation, it was plundered in 1205. Then, in 1211, it was entrusted by Count of Athens Othon de La Roche (originally from the Doubs region) to Cistercian monks from Bellevaux Abbey (Haute-Saône). They occupied the site until the arrival of the Ottomans, who returned the monastery to the Greek Orthodox Church in 1458.

Doric columns and Gothic vaults. Today, wedged between the Athens-Corinth national road (formerly the Sacred Way) and the Daphni forest (now mostly oak), the monastery retains vestiges of the first church and the ramparts that protected it. In the courtyard of the Cistercian cloister, the former monks' cells now house a small museum featuring statues from the ancient temple. To the left of the façade of the catholicon (main church), note the staircase leading to the crypt (closed to visitors) where Dukes Othon de la Roche and Gautier de Brienne are buried. Next, note the opening of the exonarthex gallery. It features a frail Doric column from the Temple of Apollo. Three similar columns are inserted between the Gothic vaults of the exonarthex's western façade. They are copies of those stolen in 1802 by Lord Elgin (the looter of the Parthenon).

Superb mosaics. Inside, the mosaics are placed in the upper sections. Christ Pantocrator ("all-powerful") occupies the dome's 7.5 m diameter cap. Its ungraceful features and unrealistic fingers are the result of poor restoration work (1889-1897). Beneath Christ, between the windows, golden "spots" preserve the portraits of 16 prophets. Four beautiful scenes then appear on the pendentives: the Annunciation; the Nativity, where the artist has ideally placed the grotto in the concave part; the Baptism of Christ by St. John the Baptist in the Jordan (the dove of the Holy Spirit and the hand of God symbolize the three natures of Christ); and the Transfiguration, with Christ levitating on Mount Tabor surrounded by the prophets Elijah and Moses, while on the ground stand the apostles Peter, James and John. Elsewhere, other mosaics are worthy of note: Entry into Jerusalem, Crucifixion, Resurrection, Joachim and Anne praying for a child (who will be the Virgin), Annunciation to Joachim, Birth of the Virgin, Virgin and her parents, Adoration of the Magi, Presentation in the Temple, Resurrection of Lazarus, Descent into Hell, portraits of the prophet Zephaniah, Saint Nicholas, Saints Sergius and Bacchus of Rasafa... In the Crucifixion and Resurrection scenes, the figures form a triangle around the Cross. The Resurrection scene is striking, with the base of the triangle formed by a chained corpse, over which Christ walks to join the Virgin.