Agios Nikolaos Sintzas Monastery

Dedicated to Agios Nikolaos, this monastery was built in a remote location by monks who came here ages ago to live far away from worldly temptations. There is a plaque in the entrance gate lintel dated 1783, but we know the monument is considerably older.

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Agios Nikolaos Sintzas Monastery is most definitely in “splendid isolation”. But then again that was very much what the hermits who came to this spectacular spot up in the mountains were looking for. If you keep your eyes open on the way up, you can clearly see the cave hermitages of the old monks who came here to live far away from worldly temptations and who later built this amazing monastery. There is a plaque in the entrance gate lintel dated 1783, but we know the monastery is considerably older as it is mentioned in a church document dated 1622.

The buildings are generally in good condition and are all carved into the surrounding cliffs. The main church probably dates from the 17th century, or maybe even a little earlier. However, it has been altered and added to several times, so the monks who founded the monastery would not recognise the church we see today. At some point the walls were whitewashed so there are no frescos visible, but there is a beautifully carved iconostasis.

There are also another 14 iconostases higher up depicting scenes from the lives of the Twelve Apostles.

The monastery has quite an unusual name, and there are various theories about what it means and where it comes from. The most likely explanation is that Sintzas comes from the local Tsakonian dialect “sytza” which means fig tree -probably from a fig tree that grew in a nearby cave.

Did you know that

The Sintzas monastery celebrates St Nikolaos on September 8.

Access is via a 12 km dirt road from Leonidio, or on foot (about one and a half hours walk).

Location

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