NEA MONI

Almost exactly in the center of the island, the monastery of Néa Moní is absolutely worth a visit. It was founded by the Byzantine emperor Constantine IX Monomachos (1042-1055) in 1042, after a miraculous discovery. According to tradition, he founded Nea Moni in order to reward two monks from Chios who had prophesied, while he was in exile in Mytilene, that his exile would soon end and he would ascend the throne. Even today, it is one of the most important Byzantine monasteries in Greece, along with those of Dafni and Osios Loukas on the mainland.

This monastery of the eleventh century remains an emblematic place of the Byzantine era and of Eastern Christianity. This is what makes its value and attracts crowds. The monastery was built in the center of the island, on the western side of Mount Provateion, where a few years ago the monks had found the miraculous icon of the Virgin hanging from a branch of myrtle. It is a particularly important monument whose fabulous mosaics with golden background are famous. But if Néa Moní once housed a powerful community of 600 monks, it was also plundered in 1822. Admire the imposing marble table and stone benches of the refectory. The monastery is one of the most important Byzantine monuments in Greece and was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980. It is one of the most beautiful monuments of Byzantine art, both by its architecture and its mosaics made by craftsmen from Constantinople in the eleventh century.