Megaspilee
Megaspiläon (also Mega Spileon , Greek Μεγα Σπήλαιον , "big cave" ) is a monastery in Greece , between the Corinthian Gulf and the mountain village Kalavrita in the Nomos Achaia and Elis on and under a rock wall.
The three lowest floors fill the space of a cave, the higher ones were glued like swallow nests to the rock wall, which rose about 190 meters. In the church on the second floor, a picture of Mary is shown as the work of the Apostle Luke , to whom the monastery owes its reputation as a place of pilgrimage .
According to the founding legends, the monastery, which dates back to the 4th century, was re-established in the 13th century by the Empress Euphrosyne and received its present form in 1640. At the turn of the 20th century it was considered the largest and most respected monastery in Greece with (1889) 109 Residents. On December 8, 1943, it was destroyed by the German Wehrmacht , and 22 monks and visitors were also murdered. After the war the monastery was rebuilt.
literature
- Meyer's Large Conversation Lexicon. Volume 13. Leipzig 1908, p. 544.
- Hermann Frank Meyer : From Vienna to Kalavryta - The bloody trail of the 117th Jäger Division through Serbia and Greece. Bibliopolis , 2002, ISBN 3-933925-22-3 .
Coordinates: 38 ° 5 '21.8 " N , 22 ° 10' 30.7" E