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.
More Churches & Monasteries
Dafni Monastery
Chaidari, West SuburbsThe Dafni Monastery is rumoured to have been built at the site of the ancient temple of Apollo Dafnaios....
The Metochion of the Holy Sepulchre
AthensThe 17th-century church of Agioi Anargyroi originally opened as a convent, believed to have been owned by the prominent Kolokinthi family....
Saint Paul’s Anglican Church
AthensLocated at the end of Filellinon Street, this neo-Gothic Anglican church was built in the early 1840s of Hymettus marble and limestone brought in from the Corinth Canal....
Alimos Basilica
Alimos, South SuburbsThis sixth-century Christian basilica sits inside the grounds of the Zoodochos Pigi church....
Penteli Monastery
North Suburbs, PenteliFounded in 1578 by bishop Evripos Timotheos, a local saint of Attica, the all-male Penteli Monastery was built amid the lush greenery at the foot of Mount Penteli....
Agios Nikolaos Lemonion Monastery
SalaminaBuilt on the pine-covered slopes of Mount Stavros in Salamina, the Monastery of St. Nikolaos Lemonion stands next to a small, 10th-century church...