The Monastery of Chrysorrogiatissa

Dublin Core

Title

Alternative Title

Ιερά Μονή Χρυσορρογιάτισσας

Subject

The Monastery of Chrysorrogiatissa

Byzantine Heritage

Description

The Monastery of Chrysorogiatissa was founded by the monk Ignatios in 1152, during the reign of the Byzantine emperor Manuel I Comnenus, following the discovery of the icon of the Virgin on the shores of Paphos, which according to tradition is one among the seventy known to have been painted by Apostle and Evangelist Luke. Despite being one of the most famous pilgrimage destinations of Cyprus, as well as one of the oldest Monasteries of the island, the foundation of which is connected with a valuable relic, the monastery of Chrysoroyiatissa has never been made the object of extensive research.
Little is known about the history of the Monastery from its foundation until the middle of the eighteenth century. The Russian monk Basil Barsky, who visited the Monastery in 1735, described its catholicon as a very small church with a round top, surrounded by two or three cells; while mentioning as well that the Monastery was modest and poor and that it was maintained through agricultural work and goat grazing. The katholikon (main church) of Chrysoroyiatissa, which replaced the small twelfth-century church mentioned by Barsky, was built between 1768 and 1790.

Beyond the katholikon, the monastic complex includes also a second underground church, which is a barrel-vaulted structure. The chapel most probably built during the Medieval period, bears no evidence allowing its exact dating. However, it constitutes the oldest still standing built structure, currently on the site.

The Monastery owns an important collection of artefacts dating from the twelfth to the mid-nineteenth century, despite the looting of its movable heritage, following the beginning of the Greek revolution of 1821, to which almost all the Cypriot Archpriests and Bishops participated also. The most important and venerated artefacts among the Monastery’s movable heritage are exhibited at the Eikonoskevofylakion (Exhibition hall) of the Monastery created in 2001 within its walls. The exhibition includes icons, liturgical vessels, documents and manuscripts, incunabula, reliquaries, liturgical vestments and garments.