Agios Nikolaos Monastery in Santorini

The Monastery of Agios Nikolaos in Santorini: The historical female Monastery of Agios Nikolaos is located between the villages of Firostefani and Imerovigli in Santorini. The monastery is dedicated to three saints, Agios Panteleimon, Zoodoxos Pighi (which means life-giving source in Greek) and Agios Nikolaos.

This monastery was originally founded on December 6th in 1651 and it was the second monastery built in Santorini. The Gizi family, one of the few Orthodox families who lived inside the Venetian Castle of Skaros, decided to turn their private chapel into a monastery, which eventually remained on that position till 1815. That year, the archbishop of Santorini gave permission to move the monastery to its present location, where the small chapel of Zoodohos Pighi was located.

The construction of the new monastery lasted till 1820. Today, the large halls of the Monastery of Agios Nikolaos host a folklore museum and an ecclesiastical museum with rare Byzantine icons. The icon of Agios Nikolaos, in particular, is very important and so is the wooden iconostasis of the katholikon, the main church of the monastery.