Monastery of Panagia Mavriotissa

At a beautiful location with very old platanus trees, at the banks of the lake of Kastoria, at a distance of approximately five kilometers from then city and opposite the village of Mavrovo (Mavrochori), is the Monastery of Panagia Mavriotissa or Mesonisiotissa, dedicated to the Dormition of the Virgin.

It was founded possibly in the 11th century and is referred to as the Monastery of Panagia Mesonisiotissa in documents that date from the 13th century and afterwards. The monastery has been dedicated to the Monastery of Agios Pavlos at Mount Athos by the Serbian ruler Bagaš Baldovin (1385). As a matter of fact, at the Monastery of Agios Pavlos there is an icon of Panagia Glykofilousa of the 14th century, which is inscribed “Panagia Mesonisiotissa”. It was named Mavriotissa in the 17th century because the people of the village of Mavrovo ensured that it remained in good condition. It played an important role to throughout the history of the area, contributing mainly to the intellectual life. It remained closes for many years and was re-founded in 1998.

From the initial monastery very few buildings survive. The catholicon is an aisleless church with a large semicircular arch on the east. The “liti”, that is the spacious narthex on the western side, necessary at the catholica of the monasteries, was added at a later date. The interior or the church was decorated with wall paintings for which five painters are responsible. They date for the early 13th century and survive in fragments at the bema, the western wall of the main church, at the “liti”, as well as at the external side of the southern wall. The icons on the external side of the southern wall of the narthex can be dated in the period 1259-1264, a date that is supported by the fragments of inscriptions that accompany two figures, emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos (1259-1282) and his brother John. Later, in the 16th century, on the southern side of the catholicon they annexed and painted the chapel of Agios Ioannis Theologos.

It is a men’s monastery and it celebrates on the 15th of August.