Built on the pine-covered slopes of Mount Stavros in Salamina, the Monastery of St. Nikolaos Lemonion stands next to a small, 10th-century church. Although experts have discovered an inscription dated 1742 in the monastery’s belfry, they have been unable to determine whether this is the date of the monastery’s restoration or its original construction.
The church is a single-aisle basilica, built of large, plain stones. Four mobile, 18th-century icons, created by Athenian hagiographer Ioannis Athanassiou, and several smaller icons of lesser importance, have been preserved and now decorate the church. However, its overall aesthetic is quite plain.
During the Turkish and Venetian occupations and the Revolution of 1821, the monastery of St. Nikolas provided shelter to freedom fighters and those fleeing the Turks. Abandoned during King Otto’s rule, the monastery was reopened in 1966 as a convent.
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