Hozoviotissa Monastery: An Eastern Orthodox Monastery on Amorgos
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.8
- Popularity
- Medium
- Country
- Greece
- Primary era
- Medieval
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern
- Civilizations
- Byzantine, Venetian
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Fortified Monastery
On this page8 sections
History
Hozoviotissa Monastery is an Eastern Orthodox monastery on Amorgos, Greece, dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Traditionally regarded as the second-oldest monastery in Greece, it originated during the Byzantine period in the first half of the ninth century and was substantially expanded and refounded in 1088 under Emperor Alexios I Komnenos.
Origins and Byzantine foundation
The monastery’s original nucleus consisted of a chapel and several cells placed in recesses of the nearby rock. Historical tradition links its first occupants to monks from Palestine and associates the foundation with the monastery of Khozova, also known as Koziba, near Jericho.
Local tradition connects the monastery with the Virgin’s icon during Byzantine Iconoclasm, a period of conflict over the religious use and veneration of sacred images. According to the tradition, the icon was thrown into the sea in Palestine to protect it from destruction. One half reached the bay of Agia Anna on Amorgos and the other reached Patmos, where the two parts were later believed to have reunited miraculously. Another tradition attributes the destruction of an earlier monastery on the site to pirates.
In the eleventh century, Alexios I Komnenos, the Byzantine emperor who ruled from 1081 to 1118, supported a major expansion and refoundation. The official foundation and construction date is 1088, when an imperial chrysobull, or charter sealed with a golden seal, granted the monastery stavropegic rights. This status placed it directly under senior ecclesiastical authority rather than under the local bishop. The complex was redesigned with stronger defensive qualities.
Expansion and Ottoman-period prosperity
Additions continued until 1520, when pirates forced the monks to abandon the monastery for eight years. Several documents and relics disappeared during this period. The foundation later reached its greatest prosperity during the Ottoman period, especially in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
At that time, Hozoviotissa controlled estates and dependencies on Amorgos, Crete, Leros, Kalymnos, Samos, Astypalaia, Naxos, Paros, Ios, Anafi, and Santorini. It also owned the Small Cyclades, then uninhabited, which were used as pasture.
Education, expropriation, and conservation
In 1829, the monastery founded the Greek School of Amorgos and provided financial support for pupils, teachers, and doctors. Until the twentieth century, it was among the wealthiest monasteries in Greece. In 1952, the Greek state expropriated its lands and transferred them to the municipalities, after which the number of monks declined. Renovation work followed in 1965.
Severe weather caused a landslide on the cliff above the monastery on New Year’s Day 1975. Falling rocks destroyed the refectory roof, pierced several floors, and sent one large rock through three levels to the ground floor. Cracks appeared in the outer walls of the monks’ cells, and part of the roof parapet collapsed. Emergency conservation included shoring the first basement, securing cracked walls, removing debris, and rebuilding the roof in reinforced concrete.
The monastery of Agios Georgios Valsamitis, another Orthodox monastery on Amorgos, is dependent on Hozoviotissa. Two monks and one volunteer live permanently at Hozoviotissa. The Virgin of Hozoviotissa is regarded as the patron saint of Amorgos, and her annual celebration takes place on 20 and 21 November with traditional foods and sweets.
The monastery also entered the history of modern architecture through the visit of the French-Swiss architect Le Corbusier during a voyage through the Aegean. His design for Notre-Dame-du-Haut at Ronchamp, built in the early 1950s, is considered to have been inspired by Hozoviotissa.
Remains
Cliffside layout
Hozoviotissa is built on a cliff on the southern coast of Amorgos, below the summit of Profitis Ilias and approximately 300 metres above sea level. The rock face forms an inner wall of the complex. The building extends for about 40 metres but reaches a maximum width of only about 5 metres, rising through eight levels linked by narrow stairways cut into or built from the rock. This produces a labyrinthine arrangement of small rooms and passages.
The complex contains monastic cells, a refectory, kitchens, storerooms, presses, cisterns, wells, a church, a narthex or entrance vestibule, and a chapel. Its present form reflects additions made over several centuries while retaining a coherent architectural arrangement. Stone matching the surrounding cliff was used in the construction, and the exterior was whitewashed from the late nineteenth or early twentieth century. The coating is renewed annually.
Entrance and defensive features
The elevated entrance stands about 10 metres above ground level. A stone stairway leads from the small forecourt, replacing an earlier retractable wooden ladder that could be withdrawn for security. The wider approach includes a paved staircase of approximately 370 steps. An iron grille encloses the entrance, which is decorated with a mosaic of the Virgin and Child. A carved marble glyph dated to the sixteenth century frames the doorway, while a relieving arch, designed to divert structural weight from the opening below, surmounts it.
The defensive arrangement concentrated access through the elevated entrance. Windows above the doorway allowed defenders to confront attackers with thrown stones or hot oil. Inside, the arches are Byzantine or pointed forms made from porphyry quarried on Milos. The pointed arches reflect Latin influence associated with the Venetian period.
Church and sacred objects
The katholikon, the principal church of an Orthodox monastery, occupies the eighth level. It is a small, single-room church with a barrel vault, a continuous curved roof over the elongated interior, and is dedicated to the Presentation of the Virgin. A three-bay bell tower with three bells rises above it.
The church houses the icon of the Virgin of Hozoviotissa in a wooden frame made by the sculptor Ioannis Magiassis in 1866. Other icons portray Christ, the archangel Michael, Saint George, and the Last Judgment. Two inscribed versions of the Virgin’s icon are also preserved there.
Associated objects include the permanently displayed icon, an iron chisel attributed to the master builder, and a silver commemorative object connected with Alexios I Komnenos and the monastery’s refoundation or renovation under his authority. At the entrance, a holy-water font is surmounted by a small niche containing a fresco of the Baptism of Christ. The monastery also preserves parchment manuscripts dating from the eleventh to the thirteenth centuries, along with several icons and other sacred works.
