The Kanalon Monastery ( el, Μονή των Κανάλων), formally the Monastery of the Nativity of the Theotokos of Kanalon ( el, Ιερά Μονή Γενεσίου της Θεοτόκου Κανάλων), is a

Greek Orthodox The term Greek Orthodox Church (Greek: Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία, ''Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía'', ) has two meanings. The broader meaning designates "the entire body of Orthodox (Chalcedonian) Christianity, sometimes also call ...

convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglic ...

in the north-east of the Greek region of

Thessaly Thessaly ( el, Θεσσαλία, translit=Thessalía, ; ancient Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic and modern administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, The ...

. Beside the monasteries of Agios Dionysios and Agia Triada, Sparmos it is one of the monasteries located at Mount Olympus.

Location and name

The convent is located east of Karya, on the road connecting it with

Leptokarya Leptokarya ( el, Λεπτοκαρυά, ''Leptokaryá'') is a town in Pieria regional unit, Central Macedonia, Greece, former seat of East Olympos municipality, which is part of the municipality of Dion-Olympos. The distance from Katerini is ...

, above the river Ziliana. The distance to Leptokarya is about 18 km, the distance (air line) to the ancient

Leivithra Leibethra or Libethra, in the modern pronunciation Leivithra ( gr, Λείβηθρα or Λίβηθρα) was an ancient Macedonian city at the foot of Mount Olympus, near the present settlement of Skotina. Archaeologists have discovered tombs ther ...

is about 7 km. It is located at an altitude of 820 m and is surrounded by forest. The name of the monastery refers to four wild brooks in the vicinity, called ''kanalia'' (κανάλια, "channels"), which combined to form the Ziliana river.

History

According to tradition, the monastery was founded in 1055 by the monks Damian and Joachim, who dedicated it to the birth of the Holy Mother of God (''Theotokos''). The 19th-century French traveller

Léon Heuzey Léon Heuzey (1 December 1831, Rouen – 8 February 1922, Paris) was a noted French archaeologist and historian. Life and career In 1855 Heuzey went to Greece as a member of the École française d'Athènes, and for the next two years traveled ex ...

, on the other hand, dated the foundation of the monastery to the ninth century. The first written record, however, is a 1638 inscription on the painting of frescoes for the chapel dedicated to All Saints. At that time, the complex consisted of the refectory and the

katholikon A ''katholikon'' or catholicon ( gr, καθολικόν) or ''sobor'' ( Slavonic: съборъ) refers to one of three things in the Eastern Orthodox Church: * The cathedral of a diocese. * The major church building (temple) of a monastery corre ...

. In 1681, a chapel dedicated to Saint Demetrios was added. The western wing, which now houses the cells of the inhabitants, was built later. The monastery flourished in the 17th century, when large-scale restoration and decoration work took place in the complex. During the 19th century, the complex was raided and suffered considerable devastation. In 1881 the ''katholikon'' collapsed for unknown reasons, two years later it was rebuilt on the old foundations.Metropolis of Elassona, ''Ιερά Μονή Κανάλων'', p. 13 Despite its

stauropegic A stauropegion, also spelled stavropegion (from el, σταυροπήγιον from σταυρός ''stauros'' "cross" and πήγνυμι ''pegnumi'' "to affirm"), is a monastery or a parish which depends directly on the primate or on the Holy Syn ...

status, it was finally abandoned in 1930. The monastery is operating again as a female convent since 2001. , the renovation work has been largely completed and the paintings in the chapel of Saint Demetrios are to be restored.

Buildings

Parts of the original complex survive: the high fortified wall surrounding it, the refectory in the northern part, a handful of cells on the northeaster side, the ''katholikon'', and the chapel of Saint Demetrios. The ''katholikon'' is a three-aisled

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name ...

topped by a dome. It had a separate upper gallery for women (''gynaikonites''). It was built in 1833, collapsed in 1881, and rebuilt in 1883 to the designs of the architect Efthymios Milios from Pentalofos. Its masonry is of locally quarried stone and marble. The chapel of Saint Demetrios is a small, single-room building that was built in 1684 and painted in 1689–1696. The small cemetery chapel dedicated to All Saints is the oldest building, with frescoes dating to 1638. The refectory is an elongated building with three apses on its eastern end, which are also decorated with frescoes.

References

{{reflist Christian monasteries established in the 11th century Greek Orthodox monasteries in Greece Monasteries in Thessaly Buildings and structures in Pieria (regional unit) Mount Olympus