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COLLECTION OF ST CATHERINE OF SINAI
The Agia Aikaterine of Sinai Monastery, which originally was a dependency of the Monastery of the same name on Mount Sinai and today belongs to the metropolitan church of Agios Menas, was an important cultural and artistic centre of Crete under Venetian occupation, until the capture of Chandax (Herakleion) by the Ottoman Turks in the 17th century (1669). During the Venetian occupation, the Monastery housed a school, in which it is said that many important men of letters taught in the 16th century; among them were Ioannis Morezenos, Ioasaph Doreianos, Ieremias Palladas. Students of the same school were the later patriarchs Meletios Pegas, Kyrillos Loukaris, and Meletios Vlastos.
The preserved katholikon of the Monastery and the chapel of Agioi Deka today house a collection of representative works of the Cretan Byzantine and post-Byzantine art, which functions under the auspices of the Communication and Education Department of the Holy Archbishopric of Crete. Among the exhibits are the icons attributed to the painter Angelos, one of the most famous painters of the 15th century, as well as the six icons by Michael Damaskenos, some of the most important works of the Cretan School during the 16th century. The 13th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities has also included in this collection detached wall paintings from the church of Michael Archangelos at Preveliana of Monofatsio, from the church of Panagia at Patsos, Amari, and from other monuments of the island.
Address 712 01 Herakleion
Ôelephone +3 281-288.825
Fax +3 2810-326.759
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