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Sights - Rethymnon Prefecture |
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The Amari Valley - Asomaton Monastery |
| The largest monastery
building in the valley is the now closed Asomaton Monastery, situated a
little outside the village of Nefs Amari. The plain of Asomathianos Kambos
is named after the monastery.
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| According to
tradition the monastery was founded at the end of the second Byzantine
Period (961-1204) by a noblewoman from Iraklion who wanted to live in
seclusion. She made fruitless efforts to find a suitable place in the
mountains, until an old monk from the nearby Kaloeidaina Monastery (near Ano Meros)
suggested that she settled in the valley in stead. Here she founded the
monastery, dedicating it to the Archangel Michael.
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Asomaton Monastery had its great period in the 17th century, receiving many donations from the local population. During the Turkish period it was the cultural centre of the area and founded among other things a middle school in the village of Monastiraki (south of the monastery). The school operated until the Cretan autonomy (1898-1913). | ||
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| But the numerous
muslim Cretans in the neighbouring villages created problems for the
monastery and it was often looted or destroyed. A natural catastrophe hit
the monastery as well, when a heavy earthquake in 1810 caused big parts of
the buildings to collapse.
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| In 1930 the monastery was changed into an agricultural school, but this has been closed down too. | |||
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