The Zygos monastery in Holy Mountain (Agion Oros) Greece. The only Athonian monastery that can be visited by women

Text & images: Babis Pavlopoulos - iconstravel photography

Zygos monastery, part of the defensive enclosure with a flanking tower. In the background, part of the fortification around the keep.

Which is the only monastery in Holy Mountain (Mount Athos) Greece that women can also visit? Even though in this semi-autonomous religious region of Greece the institution of “avaton” allows only males to enter, there is a monastery that has remained out of this rule. This is the Zygos monastery.

Mount Athos is a peninsula located in North Greece, Makedonia, in Chalkidiki prefecture. This is a religious area where the monasticism flourished since the Byzantine period, giving us a unique big scale architecture, the Athos-type monasteries.

In this peninsula the fortification meets the traditional Balkan and Byzantine architecture and both of them the Christian religion. All the monasteries are presented as extended building fortified complexes like medieval castles, dated in the period 10^th Century to 16^th Century. They consist of residential wings, walls, wall-towers, churches and chapels, dominated by a keep (donjon), and arranged around an inner yard, where one can find the main church standing in the middle of the enclosure, as the center of anything happens to the society of the monks.

Docheiariou monastery, end of the 11^th Century. It is a substantial example of the Athonian architecture, a real medieval castle with walls, flanking towers and a keep. The red domes belong to the main church of the complex.

Today, the surviving monasteries in Mount Athos are 20, creating a semi-autonomous polity within the Greek Republic, simultaneously there are some other smaller constructions belonging to the monasteries. At the same time one can find complexes or buildings that have fallen into serious decay. The entrance to this polity is controlled and the visitors must have a special license in order to enter.

Zygos monastery, what remains from the gate of the building complex.

However, there is a monastery in the same peninsula which is not included in the Athos polity, today. It is the Zygos monastery, located at the border of the polity. The monastery is an archaeological site as it is ruined, but is very interesting, presenting the original form of the Athonian monasteries. According to the surviving elements and what is known to us from the great and long tradition of the area, the ruins have been carefully and securely strengthened and in some cases restored, 

The first mention of the monastery is dated in 942, but it was erected in 991. During the 11^th Century it was one of the most important monasteries in Mount Athos, but in 1199 the building complex had already been abandoned. At the start of the Frankish rule period in the Greek area, a Frank lord settled in the complex, using it as a shelter in order to plunder the surrounding area. Even though in 1211 he left the site after the intervention of the Pope, the building complex remained known as “Frank-castle”.

Zygos monastery, the main church under restoration works.

Zygos monastery, main church, detail.

Zygos monastery, main church. Attempt of the iconostasis reconstruction and part of the original nave floor.

Zygos monastery, mosaic.

The complex was enclosed by a perimeter wall with eleven flanking towers, some of them partially preserved. At the north side of the enclosure, and at the higher point, the keep (donjon) was standing as a completely projected structure. A walled passage started from the keep, leading to a barbican; a fortified outwork. What remains of the main church of the monastery is placed at the east part of the enclosure, which is the oldest part of the complex. The church is dated in the first half of the 11^th Century and was originally built in cross in square four column type. Architects and archaeologists have discerned four construction phases at today's partially restored monument. Remains from the cells and assistant buildings are also preserved.

Zygos monastery, the collapsed defensive enclosure.

Zygos monastery, the walled passage leading to the barbican. The keep was standing at the right start of this structure.

    

The archaeological site is particularly caring, allowing the visitor to have a precise image of the form of this important monument and of course it can also be visited by women.