Platytera Monastery

The Platytera monastery (Ιερά μονή της Υπεραγίας Θεοτόκου Πλατυτέρας) is one of the greatest religious monuments found in the island. It is located between San Rocco and Mandouki districts in the beginning of Paleokastritsas national road. When the monastery was founded, the whole area around it took its name. It was founded by the Lefkadian monk Chrisanthos Syropoulos in 1743. The tall campanile above the monastery’s main entrace stands out and in the courtyard a well can be found, from where the monks used to take water. In its early years, the monastery hosted both monks and nuns but when the number of monks surpassed the one of nuns, it was decided to accept only monks. The church is a single-naved basilica and host a great number of icons painted by zakynthian Nikolaos Koutouzis and by Nikolaos Kantounis. The monastery was destructed in 1798 when the Napoleon’s french army took over Corfu and the Russian-Turks sieged the island for four months. The french troops, before setting fire to the monastery, saved everything valuable. The reconstruction had been started by Nikodimos Deladetsimas and continued by Nektarios Nakos. In 1866, the 28 metre tall campanile was finished and in 1900 the property was walled. Inside the narthex, several important people had been interred like Ioannis Kapodistrias, the first governor of Greece, his brother Augoustinos Kapodistrias, historian Andreas Moustoksidis, epiran Greek revolution heroe Fotis Tzavellas and some bishops.