North of Skala, on the road to Geraki, to the west of the large settlement of Vrontamas in the Municipality of Skala, the Evrotas flows at the bottom of a canyon, with its green slopes cut high by stone volumes.
The Old Monastery of the Four Saints is located behind the current Monastery of the Four Saints Great Martyrs and is deeply rooted and well hidden in the ravine of Sophroni.
Built into the rocks, the Old Monastery, from the 13th century, is a cave temple with three positions - of the Theotokos, of Saint Nicholas and of the great martyr Nikitas - a religious and historical monument.
Closed here, about 300 Vrondamites, under the leadership of the pope-Dimitris Papadimitriou and the commander-in-chief Giannakis Karambas, refused to surrender to the verses of the Egyptian Ibrahim Pasha, who were destroying the Peloponnese, trying to stifle the liberation struggle of the Greeks.
On September 15, 1825, unable to capture this fortified area, the besiegers blew up the hill-ceiling of the monastery and burned alive all the prisoners from the openings.
Editor: Fotini Anastasopoulou