Patmos Ecclesiastical Museum

Location: Chora

The Ecclesiastical Museum of Patmos, Dodecanese: The Ecclesiastical Museum of Patmos is located in the premises of the Monastery of Saint John, on top of Chora, the capital of the island. This is a small but interesting museum that houses portable icons from the Byzantine and post-Byzantine times, priest vestments, valuable manuscripts, items used in the Holy Mass and others.

Among the most important icons in the Ecclesiastical Museum of Patmos is the 11th-century icon of Saint Nicolas. The saint is depicted standing and blesses with the right hand, while he holds a book on the left. Very important is also the 17th-century icon of Osios Christodoulos, the founder of the monastery, that represents his interment.

Particularly interesting is also the Archives of Byzantine Documents of the museum. In these Archives, visitors can see the paper of foundation of the monastery with the golden bull of the emperor Alexios I Comnenos, the paper where the emperor granted Patmos island to Ossios Christodoulos and other papers regarding the possessions of the monastery.