It is one of the most famous monasteries of the prefecture. It was a notable center of letters and the arts during the Cretan Renaissance. Michael Damascenos painted six of his most important pictures here, while tradition also has El Greco apprenticed for a while in the monastery's workshop.
The Vrontisiou monastery is located on the southern slope of Psiloritis, a little NW from the village of Zaros and is about 50 km from Heraklion. The monastery flourished during the Venetian period and began to decline after the conquest of Crete by the Turks in 1669. Especially during the periods of the Cretan revolutions, it often received the destructive fury of the conquerors. Outside the monastery, under the century-old plane trees there is one of the most valuable sculptural works of the Cretan countryside. It is about the relief of Crete whose water flows from the mouths of three lions that complete the representation of the original Adam and Eve.
Source: HERAKLION DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION
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