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Agios Nikolaos of Kaltezes Monastery

COUNTY: Arcadia MUNICIPALITY: Tripoli

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22.66ºC

Type

Nunnery

TL;DR

Built on a verdant height, the Monastery of Agios Nikolaos of Kaltezon is located close to the village of Kaltezes.

The Monastery of Agios Nikolaos of Kaltezon is located on the southest part of the Mantineia province, on the borders between Arcadia and Laconia, at an altitude of 561m above sea level. It is 30km away from Tripoli, and 3km away from the village of Kaltezes, which means "wells" in Slavic. It was built on a verdant height in 1696, and it is dedicated to Agios Nikolaos ('Saint Nikolaos'), Profitis Ilias ('Prophet Ilias') and Metamorfosi tou Sotiros ('Transfiguration of Jesus'). The icon of Agios Nikolaos was found near the grounds of the monastery by Ilias Lyronis, who built the monastery and became a monk, changing his name to "Ananias". About 40 monks were living in the monastery in the 18th century.

The monastery has been repeatedly raided by the Turks in the past, and it is said that Theodoros Kolokotronis (a hero of the Greek revolution of 1821) often sought refuge in it to hide from the enemy forces. There was a "Krifo Scholio" stationed in the monastery (an "hidden school" during the Turkish Rule, where people would secretly go to learn the Greek language and Christian doctrine), and it also had its own aqueduct. On May 1821, the first meeting and the foundation of the Peloponnesian Senate took place, with Petrompeis Mavromichalis as its appointed president. It was destroyed by the Turks in 1825. In 1838, it was royally decreed to be a perserved in history as a museum, but in 1846 a new decree ordered its destruction due to a lack of monks in it. It was merged with the monastery of Tsipianon as a glebe ("metochi").

In 1921, it was converted into a women's monastery and reorganized. The renovationf of many constucts followed, and many new ones were added. The katholikon of the monastery is a triune, and there is a marble plaque referring to the first meeting with Mavromichalis over the door.