The Monastery of Agia Moni was built on a mountain above the village of Diakofti, at an exceptional location that allows visibility to the whole island and the sea, up to the coast of Peloponnese on the mainland.
The monastery's history begins in 1767, when a shepherd discovered an icon of Virgin Mary at this location. The icon was believed to be miraculous since it survived a natural disaster that affected the whole area and for this reason, the construction of a monastery dedicated to Mary began shortly after, on top of the ruins of a much older chapel.
In 1840, the monastery and the basilica were reconstructed with the assistance of the war hero Theodoros Kolokotronis who undertook this task to show gratitude to Virgin Mary for winning the war. A few years later, in 1848, the church's bell tower was constructed.
The monastery has many cells that were used not only by the monks but also to offer hospitality to visitors who went there to stay for a fortnight in order to fast and pray, from August 1st to August 15th, according to the custom of Dekapentismos.
The church celebrates every year on August 6th and it is open to visit at almost any time of the year. In its interior, you will get to see the silver-coated icon of Virgin Mary, as well as a hand-carved wooden altarpiece.
References:Ehrenbreitstein Fortress was built as the backbone of the regional fortification system, Festung Koblenz, by Prussia between 1817 and 1832 and guarded the middle Rhine region, an area that had been invaded by French troops repeatedly before. The fortress was never attacked.
Early fortifications at the site can be dated back to about 1000 BC. At about AD 1000 Ehrenbert erected a castle. The Archbishops of Trier expanded it with a supporting castle Burg Helferstein and guarded the Holy Tunic in it from 1657 to 1794. Successive Archbishops used the castle's strategic importance to barter between contending powers; thus in 1672 at the outset of war between France and Germany the Archbishop refused requests both from the envoys of Louis XIV and from Brandenburg's Ambassador, Christoph Caspar von Blumenthal, to permit the passage of troops across the Rhine.