Holy Monastery of Panagia Faneromeni

The Monastery of Panagia Faneromeni is located in the pine-covered area ""Faneromeni"" of the Municipality of Salamina. In this area there was an ancient temple dedicated to Athena. On the ruins of the ancient church, was built the first Christian church in the 13th century, which was destroyed and rebuilt in 1670. The Monastery is of the architectural style of a triple-dome basilica with a dome and a poly-dome or pentadome basilica, because at the four ends of the roof there is a tower-like square bubble. These towers have three niches which are semi-circular on the inside and semi-hexagonal on the outside, as in various holy temples and were used for hermitages of the monks. The iconography of the catholicon was done in 1735 by the iconographer Georgios Markos (from Argos) and his students, using the technique of fresco painting and includes 3.500 figures. On the south side of the catholicon is the Church of Saint Nikolaos where the Holy Head of Saint Lavrentios (Laurent de Salamine) is placed. Also, in front of the fine gate there is the Tomb of the Saint. The Church of the Holy Apostles, which was unearthed in 1661, is used as a museum. In the museum, reliquaries with holy relics, Vasa Sacra (sacred vessels), manuscripts in Turkish, Turkish-Arabic and Greek, portable icons, manuals of Byzantine-Arabic style, a wood-carved shrine of 1744, weapons and swords of chieftains of the greek revolution of 1821. In the courtyard of the Monastery there is the tomb of the commander and guard of the Acropolis, Ioannis Goura, who was killed by the attacks of the Turks, to occupy it, and the tomb of the Metropolitan of Attica Megarid and Salamis, Iakovos Vavanatsos. The Monastery of Panagia Faneromeni celebrates on August 23rd, when a major festival takes place.