Monastery of the Dormition of the Virgin at Damandri

The Monastery of Damandrio is in the Polichnitos area and is dedicated to the Dormition of the Theotokos. It was founded in the post-Byzantine period and, according to tradition, took its name from the Byzantine settlement of the same name that existed in the area and was destroyed in the 16th century by pirate raids. The old katholikon of the monastery survives, a small single-aisled, tiled-roof basilica with wall paintings dating to the 16th century and likely repainted in 1733 by the Chian icon painter Michael Chomatzas. The church’s wooden iconostasis, dating to the Late Ottoman period, includes parts from iconostases of other local churches. The monastery owned two notable portable icons, of Christ and the Virgin Hodegetria; the former is now kept in the church of Panagia in Agiasos and the latter in the Ecclesiastical Museum of Mytilene. From 1958 to 1980 a nursing home of the Metropolis operated on the premises, while in recent years the monastery has been renovated, reconstituted and functions again, housing two monks.