Monastery of Agia Triada (Metropolis of Karpenisi)

Right next to the central square of Karpenisi is the historical metropolitan church of the capital of Evrytania, which is dedicated to Agia Triada.

The date of its foundation is not known even though some of those who studied the events of the area place it in the second half of the 16th century. in its initial form it was small, humble, with no special characteristics, but it became prominent in 1645 by the great teacher Eugene Giannoulis Aitolos, who made Karpenisi into an spiritual centre. Using the small church and as a pretext its reconstruction, he founded here the first School og nHigher Education, which continued to flourish for more than 150 years, as well as schools for teaching “common letters”. The school obtained great reputation and many men of letters of this country studied here. The gradual increase of its needs imposed the construction of a new, larger church, which followed the architectural standards of the basilicas in Constantinople, where Giannoulis had studied. This reconstruction is commemorated in a relief inscription that has been walled-in in the façade of the church.

During its history the church suffered a lot of destructions by the Turks. Probably it was destroyed in 1684, it was repaired by Limberakis Gerakaris in 1693, and was destroyed again in 1756, this time completely, while its rich library burned down. In June 1821 it was torched by the Turks together with all the churches of the city, as it is mentioned in narrations of that period, but since it was made of stone and wouldn’t burn, the Turks demolished its dome and part of its roof. It was repaired hastily and remained in this way until its last renovation, in the beginning of the 1960s. Nowadays it is the metropolitan church of the city and it celebrates on the day of the Holy Spirit.