Zaraka Monastery
Daughter monasteries
No
The monastery Zaraka ( Saracez ) is a former Cistercian abbey in Greece. The ruins of the monastery are in a high level (about 620 m) on the lake Stymfalia between the villages Kionia and Stymfalia ( Prefecture of Corinthia, Peloponnese north ), two kilometers northwest of the ancient Stymphalus.
History
The monastery was founded in the first half of the 13th century. During the period of Frankish rule in the Fourth Crusade had Godfrey I of Villehardouin, the Lord of Morea, volunteered in 1210 to build a house in Patras for Cistercian monks, on the but nothing else is known. The request reached the monastery Hautecombe in Savoy. It is unclear whether therefrom the monastery Isova in the region of Elis, whose membership is not secured to the Cistercian Order, or Zaraka emerged. In 1225, asked Godfrey I of Villehardouin, the General Chapter of the Order by sending a group of monks of a monastery in Achaia ( Peloponnese ). As a result of the end of the Latin rule in Constantinople Opel the monasteries of Western Order in Greece, with the exception of the Monastery of Daphni and a Cistercian settlement on Crete had to be closed until 1275 or 1280. Coins from the 14th century, however, show that the plant was also used later. Since 1993, extensive excavations by archaeologists from Toronto take place.
Plant and buildings
Zaraka is the best preserved Frankish monastery in Greece. The z.T. still upright residues show a transept loose three-nave church with a rectangular choir, a nave with vierjochigen the arcades supporting circular pillars with four Halbsäulchen, a round tower of the choir and the a side chapel on each side. The stones come in part from the ancient city Stymphalus. From the cloister south of the church led a passage directly into the church. In the north- east of the church is the foundation of a bell tower. The monastery had a two-storey gatehouse with a barrel-vaulted passage.