The Holy Monastery of Agia Paraskevi Vahlia is located at an altitude of 1,045m. Southeast from the foothills of Mount Aphrodision. It is 5 km from the village of Vahlia, 65 km from Tripoli and 68 km from the Tower of Ilia. A road leads to the monastery that starts 1 km before Vahlia, at the height of the ancient city of Komi.
The establishment of the Monastery, according to expert estimates, dates back to the middle of the 16th century. According to the Archaeological Service, the building complex of the Holy Monastery is characterized as a very valuable historical monument of the N.W. Gortynias.
The shape of all the buildings of the Monastery is four-sided, it consists of a single-aisled church, a large living room, a kitchen and five cells. In the center there is the atrium with the sheds, a hatch and a staircase connecting to the semi-underground spaces.
The Monastery seems to have played an important role during the revolution of 1821. During this period, it was a hideout and base for cartels and thieves, as the existing battlements attest.
From its foundation until the end of 1955, the Monastery was sometimes served by monks and sometimes by nuns. In fact, on October 31, 1838, when the Monastery was about to be dissolved along with others, eight monks who had settled there requested with their memorandum to the State and the Holy Synod that the Monastery not be dissolved. In fact, the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece advised in 1841 that the Monastery should be preserved and that "the mentioned eight monks should be buried in it, paying annually to the public according to the decrees, the laws".
On 31-12-1995, a fire broke out in the Monastery which resulted in the destruction of the central wing. Soon, however, it was possible to repair the damage, by restoring the damaged cells according to the conditions indicated by the Archaeological Service. And so, the monastery is preserved today in very good condition.
Editor: Fotini Anastasopoulou