Zaraka Monastery is a ruined Frankish abbey near

Stymfalia Stymfalia ( el, Στυμφαλία; grc, Στύμφαλος ''Stymphalos'') is a village and a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese, Greece, previously known by the name Matsiza (small cat in Albanian) due to its Arvanite population. Si ...

, in the Peloponnese, in

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

. It was built about a kilometre from the shores of

Lake Stymphalia Lake Stymphalia (Greek: Λίμνη Στυμφαλία - ''Límnē Stymphalía'') is located in the north-eastern part of the Peloponnese, in Corinthia, southern Greece. It is a closed karst basin with a wetland area and an agrarian area. The lak ...

, the site of the ancient city of

Stymphalus In Greek mythology, Stymphalus or Stymphalos (Ancient Greek: Στύμφαλος or Στύμφαλον) may refer to the following personages: * Stymphalus, an Arcadian prince as one of the 50 sons of the impious King Lycaon either by the naiad ...

, during the " Frankokratia", i.e. the occupation of parts of the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

Franks The Franks ( la, Franci or ) were a group of Germanic peoples whose name was first mentioned in 3rd-century Roman sources, and associated with tribes between the Lower Rhine and the Ems River, on the edge of the Roman Empire.H. Schutz: Tools, ...

and Venetians, following the events of the Fourth Crusade in 1204, and the establishment of the

Latin Empire The Latin Empire, also referred to as the Latin Empire of Constantinople, was a feudal Crusader state founded by the leaders of the Fourth Crusade on lands captured from the Byzantine Empire. The Latin Empire was intended to replace the Byzant ...

of Constantinople and Greece.

History

The monastery was built by monks of the

Cistercian Order The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Sain ...

, in ''c.'' 1225. What is particularly noteworthy about this monastery is that it the only one actually built by the Cistercians in Greece (out of the approx. 17-19 houses throughout Greece), since in all other occasion the Cistercians had occupied existing Greek Orthodox monasteries that had been abandoned by the Greek monks. In this respect it is one of the exceptionally few samples of western Gothic architecture in Greece, along with the (most likely

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

) monastery of Isova in the western Peloponnese (just north of the village of Trypiti). It was initially excavated by Professor

Anastasios Orlandos Anastasios Orlandos ( el, Αναστάσιος Ορλάνδος, 23 December 1887 – 6 October 1979) was a Greek architect and historian of architecture. Biography A descendant of Ioannis Orlandos, Anastasios was born and died in Athens. He s ...

in the 1920s and then by E. Stikas in the 1960s before a joint project by the Canadian Institute at Athens and the Archaeological Society of Athens prepared the first detailed state plan of the church in 1984. Excavations from 1993 to 1996 by the Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies at the University of Toronto uncovered areas around the gate house and the cloister. Some scholars believe that the abbey had been built in the same location, or general area as an ancient Greek temple dedicated to

Artemis In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Artemis (; grc-gre, Ἄρτεμις) is the goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, nature, vegetation, childbirth, care of children, and chastity. She was heavily identified wit ...

, which is supported by the fact that materials from a temple have been extensively used in the buildings of the monastery; it is possible, however, that these elements (reused column drums, for example) came from the ancient city a few hundred metres away. The monastery makes sporadic appearance in the Statutes of the Cistercian General Chapter and it was one of the houses granted special exemption from the compulsory annual attendance at the General Chapter, and along with the houses in Syria and the Crusader States it was only required to attend once every seven years. The monastery was abandoned in 1276. The main surviving structures are the imposing vaulted gate house and the church, especially its western end as well as parts of the defensive wall around the monastery. Excavation to the NE of the east end of the church (possibly a narthex was originally planned but never completed) revealed an arched entrance probably to the refectory which had fallen in an earthquake. The PIMS excavations demonstrated that the abbey was resettled in the late 14th century and inhabited perhaps intermittently until the mid 16th century. A number of graves from this later reoccupation were excavated in and around the cloister, including a headless man and one with a German banker's token of the mid 16th century.

Sources

* E. A. R. Brown 'The Cistercians in the Latin Empire of Constantinople and Greece, 1204-1276', ''Traditio'' vol.14 (1958), 63-120 * B. Kitsiki-Panagopoulos, ''Cistercian and Mendicant Monasteries in Medieval Greece'' (Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 1979) * P. Lock, ''The Franks in the Aegean, 1204-1500'' (Longman, 1995) * D. H. Williams, ''The Cistercians in the Early Middle Ages, 1098-1348'' (Gracewing, 1998) * Excavation report my Sheila D. Campbel

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Cistercian Order Christian monasteries established in the 13th century Medieval Corinthia Buildings and structures in Corinthia Roman Catholic monasteries in Greece Principality of Achaea History of Catholicism in Greece Gothic architecture in Greece Ruined abbeys and monasteries Ruins in Greece Medieval sites in Peloponnese (region)