Holy Monastery of Leimonos

The Holy Monastery of Saint Ignatios, known as Leimonos from the meadow (leimonas) where it is built, lies 14 km northwest of Kalloni. It was founded in 1526 by the Bishop of Mythimna, Ignatios Agallianos, on the ruins of a Byzantine monastery and was dedicated to Archangel Michael. The monastic complex includes monks’ cells, an olive press, the ecclesiastical museum and about 42 chapels. The katholikon stands in the central enclosure and is a three-aisled basilica. It was built in 1795 on the site of an earlier katholikon and is accessible only to men. Of special interest is the iconographic program of the sacristy’s murals in the church’s eastern part. In the cemetery, 16th-century wall paintings survive. In the western wing of the central enclosure are preserved sacred vestments—excellent examples of ecclesiastical gold embroidery—royal doors, fresco fragments, portable icons, sacred vessels, reliquaries, and the monastery library. The museum also preserves a 9th-century Gospel book, patriarchal sigils, sultanic firmans, etc.