Astros Kynourias

Astros is the seat of the Kynouria Municipality and is a fairly large settlement built on a green plain. It is an important commercial and agricultural centre of the region.

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Astros is the seat of the Kynouria Municipality and is a fairly large settlement built on a green plain. It is an important commercial and agricultural centre of the region, but is not such a popular tourist destination as the seaside town of Paralio Astros.

The most beautiful neighborhood in Astros is the area around the town hall. There is a big central square where you can enjoy a coffee before having a wander round some of the narrow shopping streets, keeping a look out for the traditional old stone houses.

Historically speaking, in 1823 the town was the site of the 2nd National Assembly of the Greeks which adopted a new revised Constitution for the recently independent Greece. This document protected  the honour and the security of everyone on Greek territory, established the freedom of the press and banned slavery – all in all a significant development in the establishment of the Greek State. The Assembly was held in the old school building which is now a museum (see below).

Astros also benefited from having a very generous and forward-looking benefactor, Dimitrios Karytsiotis.  In 1789 he built the first school named after him in neighbouring Αi Yiannis (which has always been strongly connected to Astros), and then in 1805 he built a second school here in Astros. Both schools were of a very high standard, with modern equipment, and gave children from many areas of the Peloponnese and the islands a good education. He also established the library in Ai Giannis. 

The Astro School building has been declared a listed building and now houses the Archaeological Museum which has findings from various sites in Kynouria - mainly from the Roman villa of Herodes of Atticus. (The museum is closed for 2022, tel. 0030 2710 225243). 

About 4 km outside of Astros on the road to Tripoli, you will find the Loukous Monastery which seems to have been built near, or on, the site of an ancient settlement. The monastery chapel, Metamorphosi tou Sotiros, is a beautiful early 13th century church and is set in a wonderfully peaceful paved courtyard. As an added extra, the courtyard doubles up as an informal outdoor archaeological museum with a fairly random assortment of broken columns, Corinthian and Ionic capitals, marble decorative features, porticoes and statues from the neighbouring Roman villa scattered around between the flowers, trees and cactus plants. And if you keep your eyes open you might also spot the ceramic decorations and ancient sculptures embedded in the church masonry – or even the odd contented cat relaxing in the shade! While this church is old, dating from 1117, it was built on the ruins of an even earlier Christian church from the 5th century. Finally, there is also an old tower in the north east of the courtyard.

As with so many monasteries in the Peloponnese, Loukous Monastery helped the Greeks who were fighting for independence from Ottoman Rule in the early 19th century. And again like so many monasteries, Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt took revenge by destroying the monastery, but not the church, in 1826. If you step into the cool inside of the church you will see that the walls are covered with beautiful frescoes from the 16th century.

You can read more about the Roman Villa Herod of Atticus here 

Did you know that

Astros is 45 km from Tripoli and about 170 km from Athens.

Phone number of Loukos Monastery: 0030 27550 41260.

Location

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