Caesariani Monastery

It’s hot in Athens, you want to go to the sea, but if your soul still craves communication with culture, then you can visit the country monastery of Caesariani. It is located on the slope of Mount Imittos, approximately seven kilometers from the center of Athens. At one time it was a charming corner in a shady valley, where groves of cypresses, laurel trees and olives were fragrant.

The ancient Roman poet Ovid, who once visited it, was so delighted that he sang this corner in his poems “Ars amatoria”. Today some trees have survived there, but, alas, what Ovid admired is long gone.
In its current form, the monastery was built in the 11th century. Then they built the Vvedensky cathalikon – a traditional cross-domed building with four marble columns supporting the dome drum. In this case, Ionic columns were used, borrowed from a destroyed ancient temple.
The monastery’s frescoes date back to the 16th century. The dome contains the “Pankrator” and “Preparation of the Throne”, and below are frescoes depicting Christ and angels.
To the right of the church stands a 17th century chapel dedicated to St. Anthony the Great. The entire complex of the monastery: the refectory, kitchen, fraternal building and even the bathhouse are well preserved. On weekdays there are few people in this place. And this is good, you can calmly explore everything, breathe in the fresh mountain air and admire the skill of ancient painters and architects.

The monastery in Caesariani is located in a forest on the northwestern slope of Mount Imittos (about 6 km southeast of Athens), and is one of the oldest Orthodox churches in Greece. The monastery was built in the 11th century by a certain Caesarea, after whom both the monastery itself in Greece and the area in which it was built were named. The monastery was built on the ruins of an ancient Roman sanctuary, and the sanctuary was in turn built on a temple dedicated to the goddesses Aphrodite and Demeter. The four columns of the ancient temple have survived to this day.

Near the monastery there is a spring of Aphrodite, the water of which, according to legend, heals infertility. Water flows from a fountain designed in the shape of a ram’s head. Around the monastery there are walnut groves and cypress forests, and above there is a pine mountainside with beehives.

You can enter the monastery territory through two entrances: from the eastern and western sides. Inside there are several buildings, each of which is an ancient monument: the main temple, refectory, bathhouse, vestibule, bell tower, chapel and others.

The main temple of the monastery complex is the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, built in the form of a Greek cross in the 11th century. The temple, built in a cross-domed system, stands on four large columns, which themselves are much older than the building resting on them, and come from late antiquity. The narthex of the temple appeared in the 17th century; the wonderful frescoes were painted by a Cretan icon painter. The walls of the church are painted by Athonite masters of the 16th century, the frescoes date back to the 17th century, and represent an interesting example of post-Byzantine Greek icon painting.

After Athens was captured by the Crusaders in 1205, the monastery retained its privileges. The monastery was very famous in the late Middle Ages; such prominent Byzantine scientists as Gemist Plithon taught here. When the Turks came in 1456, the monastery not only was not destroyed, but also continued its existence in even greater splendor.

For a long time the monastery was exempt from paying taxes to the treasury and therefore flourished. In 1792, the monastery lost this privilege and gradually fell into decay. Athenian metropolitans often lived here; in addition, both Byzantine emperors and Ottoman sultans visited the monastery.

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