Monastery of Agios Lavrentios

Website: www.imd.gr

The Monastery of Agios Lavrentios, a site of historical, architectural and religious interest has been the core around which the village with the same name was built. The monastery is located east of the village of Agios Lavrentios in central Pelion and it is dated since the second half of the 12th century.

The original monastery was built by Benedictine monks from Amalfi. On its ruins, according to the inscription, the new monastery was created in 1378 during the empire of Alexios III Komninos. Its founder was Agios Lavrentios (Saint Lawrence) and it was dedicated to the Archdeacon Saint Lawrence, who was martyred in 258 in Rome.

Agios Lavrentios was a monk of Mount Athos, who during the second half of the 14th century arrived in Pelion with other monks in search of a new monastery, after the controversy of the Hesychasts and the Varlaamites. The monastery had several renovations, which show the effect of each era on architecture. The church is a Byzantine church with a dome, while in the interior there are still the frescoes in the sanctuary (the iconography of Pagonis on the birth of Christ is one of the most impressive works) as well as the base of the marble temple.