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Sepetos Convent

COUNTY: Elis MUNICIPALITY: Andritsaina-Κrestena

Clouds
16.76ºC

Type

Monastery

TL;DR

A convent built into the cliffside surrounded by a unique landscape.

Built into the cliffside, the 11th century convent of Panagia Sepetou is 10km from Alfeira village, north of Andritsaina, overlooking Triton river. It contains the icon of Panagia Sepetiotissa. The name comes either from the Slavic word “sopot”, meaning “cascade” or from the Greek adjective “septos” meaning “respected”. The convent played a significant role during the Byzantine and the Venetian era. Its contribution to the war of Independence of Greece was decisive. For decades, the convent served as a Kryfo Sxoleio (a secret school) and many Greek fighters vowed “Freedom or Death” before the holy icon of Holy Mother of God. On August 23, 1915, the day of the feast of the convent a fire broke out burning down the catholicon and the dwellings of the nuns. Only the holy icon of Panagia Sepetiotissa was saved, a work of Luke the Evangelist. The convent was restored and its magnificent wooden iconostasis is plated with gold and adorned with sumptuous icons. In 2007, the great fires that broke out in Elis destroyed the surrounding space of the convent from where the view of the Vrontoneri cascade is magnificent.