Mega Spilaio ( Greek : Μέγα Σπήλαιο , lit. 'Great Cave'), formally the Monastery of the Dormition of the Theotokos (Ιερά Μονή Κοιμήσεως της Θεοτόκου), is a Greek Orthodox monastery in the municipality of Kalavryta , in the Peloponnese peninsula in southern Greece .
18-484: The monastery is located in a large cave in a sheer cliff, where the western slopes of Mount Chelmos drop down to the gorge of the Vouraikos river, some 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) northwest of the town of Kalavryta . The cave was known in antiquity, and the geographer Pausanias reports that the daughters of Proetus found refuge there during their madness. In the first Christian centuries, Christian hermits occupied
36-478: A school which was then set on fire while the men were looking on from a hill outside the village. Then 696 boys and men were machine-gunned; only 13 survived. After that, they burnt down the town before they left and the next day they burnt down the monastery of Agia Lavra , the birthplace of the Greek War of Independence . In total, 752 civilians were killed during "Operation Kalavryta", a deliberate strategy by
54-459: Is Mega Spilaio which is located 8 km (5 mi) northeast. The municipality Kalavryta was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following 4 former municipalities, that became municipal units: The municipality has an area of 1,058.147 km , the municipal unit 531.797 km . The municipal unit of Kalavryta is divided into the following communities: The province of Kalavryta ( Greek : Επαρχία Καλαβρύτων )
72-609: Is obscure. The monastery gained prominence only from about 1354, when it served as the residence of the Orthodox Metropolitan of Patras , since the city was still occupied by the Latins and the seat of a Latin archbishopric . The complex suffered large-scale destructions in 849, 1400, and 1640, when it was comprehensively rebuilt. Several of the monks became members of the Filiki Etaireia and took part in
90-573: Is rich in butterfly species, including the Chelmos blue ( Agrodiaetus iphigenia ) which is found between 1,100 m and 1,800 m. Kalavryta Kalavryta ( Greek : Καλάβρυτα ) is a town and a municipality in the mountainous east-central part of the regional unit of Achaea , Greece . The town is located on the right bank of the river Vouraikos , 24 kilometres (15 miles) south of Aigio , 40 km (25 miles) southeast of Patras and 62 km (39 miles) northwest of Tripoli . Notable mountains in
108-513: Is the third highest mountain of the Peloponnese, after Taygetus and Kyllini , and the highest in Achaea. The largest town near the mountain is Kalavryta . The municipal unit Aroania took its name from the mountain. Aroania is situated in southeastern Achaea, near the border with Corinthia . The slightly higher Kyllini mountain is about 15 km to its east, separated from Aroania by
126-543: The Greek War of Independence . In 1934, the katholikon was destroyed in a fire, and replaced by a new church in 1937. On 8 December 1943, the German 117th Jäger Division destroyed the monastery and executed 22 monks and visitors as part of reprisals that culminated a few days later with the Massacre of Kalavryta . The monastery was rebuilt from the ground after the war, and now comprises an eight-storey complex set in
144-596: The 120 metres (390 ft) high cliff face. A male monastery, it celebrates on 15 August (the day of the Dormition ), 14 September , and 18 October ( Luke the Evangelist and the ktetors ). Mount Chelmos Aroania ( Greek : Αροάνια ), also known as Helmos or Chelmos (Χελμός, from South Slavic chlmo , "summit" ), is a mountain in Achaea , Peloponnese , Greece . At 2,355 m elevation, Aroania
162-463: The Nazis in order to break the resistance by targeting civilians. After the war, the federal government of Germany offered gestures of atonement in the form of free school books for the high school, scholarships for orphans of the massacre and the building of a retirement home. However, German commanders, including Major Ebersberger who carried out the destruction of Kalavryta and Hauptmann Dohnert who led
180-572: The cave. According to tradition, the monastery is one of the oldest in Greece, reputedly founded in 362 by the Thessalonian brothers Symeon and Theodore, who with the help of Euphrosyne (a local shepherdess, honoured as saint for her part in these events) discovered in the cave the icon of the Theotokos painted by Luke the Evangelist . Its medieval history under Byzantine and Latin rule
198-507: The cliff near Mazi from the force of the shots. Two German prisoners survived the execution and raised the alarm on the following day 8 December 1943. On 13 December 1943, in retribution for the killing of the captured German soldiers, German troops perpetrated the Kalavryta massacre : they ordered all male residents of Kalavryta aged 14 years or older to gather in a field just outside the village. Some 1,300 women and children were locked in
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#1732797968165216-675: The firing party, were never brought to justice for their crimes. The Kalavryta region also became the site of fighting during the Greek Civil War . On 11 April 1948, Kalavryta was seized by the Democratic Army of Greece (DSE) after the former overpowered the town's garrison. DSE released 17 leftists held in the local gendarmerie building, while also emptying the national guard and United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration warehouses; taking 400 million drachmas and large quantities of food and military equipment in
234-459: The flag of the revolt was raised at the monastery of Agia Lavra by bishop Germanos III of Old Patras . At the end of 1943, near Kalavryta, 81 German soldiers, led by Hauptmann Johannes Schober, were captured by Greek partisans. Four Germans were killed on the spot. Three were taken to hospital at Kalavryta but were later shot by the furious partisans. The rest were initially treated as prisoners of war until most were shot dead and some plunged over
252-554: The mountain include the Cave of the Lakes ( Spilaio ton Limnon ), the monastery of Mega Spilaio and the mountain town Kalavryta . Mountain villages on the mountain are Planitero and Peristera . There are several protected areas on Aroania. A list of the highest peaks of Mount Aroania: The parts of Aroania between 800 m and 1,800 m elevation are covered with pine forests. The higher areas consist of grasslands and barren rock. Aroania
270-614: The municipality are Mount Erymanthos in the west and Aroania or Chelmos in the southeast. Kalavryta is the southern terminus of the Diakopto-Kalavryta rack railway , built by Italian engineers between 1885 and 1895. Kalavryta is built near the ancient city of Cynaetha . During the late Middle Ages , the town was the centre of the Barony of Kalavryta within the Frankish Principality of Achaea , until it
288-426: The process. In Kastria , in the municipal unit of Kleitoria , there is the famous cave system Spilaio ton Limnon (" Cave of the Lakes ") which is filled with beautiful lakes and strange rock formations. Kalavryta has a ski centre which is located east of town, on the slopes of Chelmos . The monastery of Agia Lavra is located on a hill 4 km (2 mi) southwest of Kalavryta. Another famous monastery nearby
306-656: The valley of the river Olvios . The mountain Erymanthos is about 30 km to the west, across the valley of the river Vouraikos . The rivers Krios , Krathis and Vouraikos drain the mountain towards the Gulf of Corinth in the north. The river Aroanios drains the mountain towards the southwest, to the Ionian Sea . The mountain is the site of the Aristarchos telescope and of a ski resort . Points of interest on
324-656: Was reconquered by the Byzantines in the 1270s. After that it remained under Byzantine control until the fall of the Despotate of the Morea to the Ottoman Turks in 1460. With the exception of a 30-year interlude of Venetian control, the town remained under Turkish rule until the outbreak of the Greek War of Independence in 1821, in whose early stages Kalavryta figures prominently: it was here that on 21 March 1821
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