At the village Plataniotissa, 30km northwest of Kalavryta, at a beautiful green location, is one of the most peculiar and special pilgrimages of Greece, Panagia Plataniotissa, from which the village took its name.
It is a very small church dedicated to the Birth of Virgin Mary, which has been shaped in the cavity of a huge, very old platanus tree. The tree has a perimeter of around 17 m. on the basis and height of25 m., and through time it has created a complex with two other platanus trees. The date of the foundation of the church is not known, but its tradition regarding its history is connected to the Monastery of Megalou Spilaiou (oGreat Cave) and the icon of Panagia Megalospilaiotissa.
At the interior of the church, inside a natural cavity of the platanus tree, there is the depiction, in a miraculous way, of the icon of the Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus. The icons is identical to the one at the Monastery of Megalou Spilaiou, to be accurate it is the reverse of it. Regarding the way it was created there various stories, related either to the founders of the monastery, monks Symeon and Theodoros, who spent the night at the platanus trying to find the icon, in the 4th century, or with the monastery monks, who in around 9th century travelled with the icon showing how it was saved from Iconoclasm, and also spent the night at the platanus cavity.
The church is around 8 m. long, and about 3 m. wide and a capacity of 15 people in the main church or 20 people in total. A small entrance opens on its northwestern side, and a window exactly opposite it. At is interior there is a small screen with two columns that create the Holy Gate, while at a height of approximately 3 m. from the ground dominates the icon of Virgin Mary.
The church celebrates on the 8th of September.
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