The Eimyalon Monastery is located in the idyllic gorge of Lousios in an impressive landscape, with water and trees while it is 3 km from Dimitsana and 68 km from Tripoli.
You can reach the monastery by taking the downhill road that starts from the asphalt road that connects Dimitsana and Stemnitsa. There is also access from a rural road that starts from Kefalari of Ai-Yiannis.
It is built at the root of a large rock and almost looks like a meteor, tucked into a hollow of the ravine of the Isvora stream.
The monastery is dedicated to the Nativity of the Theotokos and is celebrated on September 8.
According to the surviving inscription, the Monastery was built in 1600, probably on the ruins of another earlier monastery that existed during the Byzantine period.
The monastery's catholicon and its iconography were made in 1608, by the Nafplion brothers Dimitrios and Georgios Moschos, at the expense of the founders of the monastery, Grigoriou hieromonk Kontogiannis and his sister, the nun Eupraksias. The frescoes of the catholicon are characterized by the traditional Byzantine style and the sanctity and strict geometry of the volumes in the representation of the figures. Initially, the Monastery had the form of a hermitage with a few cells wedged inside a cave.
The monastery grew rapidly, receiving many donations and tributes, and in 1635 it numbered thirty-five monks. In fact, in 1622, as mentioned in the seal of Patriarch Jeremiah, it was converted into a stauropigium by the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
During the Turkish rule, it was an excellent spiritual center, a place of pilgrimage for the Christians of the area, especially of Dimitsana and Zygovisti, and it significantly helped the struggling Greeks in the struggle of 1821 with food, money, hosting the hunted, participation of monks in the battles and provision of a loan of 750 gros. The monastery continued to function even after the liberation and had several monks. His estates were then expropriated and given to landless people. Over time it began to decline. In 1925 it was dissolved and annexed to the Monastery of Timiou Prodromos of Stemnitsa to which it still belongs today. A few monks from the Timiou Prodromou monastery inhabit and take care of it.
The monastery also has guesthouses where the visitor can spend the night.
A little before the monastery, and to the right of the road leading to it, is the Linos of Kolokotronae, a small restored building. There the brother of Theodoros Kolokotronis, Giorgakis, fled there, leading a few lads after the betrayal of a monk to the enemy. The Greeks put up a heroic resistance against the numerous Turks, who had surrounded the leno (= the wine press). When the besiegers set fire to the building, the defenders attempted a heroic exit with swords in hand and were all killed.
Editor: Fotini Anastasopoulou