Arkadi Monastery

Why go

This record is the monastery, which its own site describes as both a fully operating monastery, where seven monks live, and a pilgrimage destination of religious tourism. The monastery's history page says it is not clear exactly when it was founded, that according to history a monk named Arkadios founded it around the 11th century, that its double-aisle church dates from 1587 and the castle-monastery took its present form by 1600, and that in the 1866 siege 964 fighters and villagers from nearby were enclosed inside. Its pages say visitors can see the church, the historic dining room, the cellars, the powder magazine, the museum and the art gallery, that services are held daily, and that the monastery celebrates feasts on 21 May, 6 August and 8 November, the last commemorating what it calls the Holocaust of the monastery in 1866. The site links to an online booking page for visits.