The Agios Ioannis Kynigos (St. John the Hunter) Monastery is located on the northern side of Mount Hymettus, above the suburb of Agia Paraskevi.
Built in late 12th or early 13th century, the monastery’s catholicon (main church building) is a cruciform, double-column sanctuary. Among the prominent names mentioned in the monastery’s inscriptions are John the Baptist and Philosophos, a monk believed to come from the Philosophon Monastery in Arcadia.
The catholicon, along with the western pillar, has been well preserved and reveals a basic ‘rubble technique’, which involves overlaid rocks and brick-covered limestone. Marble is generously employed throughout the monastery. Built in the later years, the nave and catholicon are adorned with frescoes, while some Byzantine-era frescoes are partially visible in older sections of the monastery.
Today, the monastery operates as a nunnery.
More Churches & Monasteries
Athens Metropolitan Cathedral
AthensThis landmark has hosted many significant ceremonies, from royal weddings to funerals of important political and social figures....
Russian Church
AthensKnown to Athenians as the Russian Church, the Holy Church of Lykodemos Sotira is one of the oldest Byzantine churches in Athens, and also the largest....
The Holy Church of St. Irene
AthensThe Holy Church of St. Irene on Nikodimou Street in Plaka, is also known as "Rinaki of Plaka" (Little Irene of Plaka)....
Pantanassa
AthensLocated on Monastiraki Square, the Church of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary, or Pantanassa, was once called the Great Monastery, and today is known commonly as Monastiraki....
Agia Aikaterini
AthensLocated in Plaka, the church of St. Aikaterini was built in the mid-11th century....
Panagia Faneromeni Monastery
SalaminaThe Panagia Faneromeni Monastery, named for its location in a pine grove in Faneromeni, stands opposite the narrowest point of the Megarida Gulf....