The monks abandoned the destroyed monastery and moved into the
Metochion, the estate of the monastery. The Metochion was founded in 1650 and consisted of land for farming, a church, economic buildings, and a building in which the monks lived. After the Second World War this estate was gradually expanded into a full monastery. The older part of the new monastery is equipped with a heavy iron door and thus separated from the rest of the compound. It contains the monks' quarters, the refectory, and the administrative building. As is usual with Greek Orthodox monasteries, this part of the monastery is subject to the
abaton ("inaccessible") rule, prohibiting access to female visitors. Just outside are the stables, workshops, and cheese factory. All buildings outside the
abaton, such as the new church or the museum, were built after 1985.
The church The monastery church was built in classical orthodox style, though there are many special features inside in addition to the usual sumptuous decor of an Orthodox church. Many of the church's chairs, standing consoles, and other wooden items are decorated with elaborate
marquetry, the inserts of which are made of
ivory and
mother-of-pearl. Next to a depiction of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is a little basket with notes and ball-point pens. Believers who want to make a request to Christ are encouraged to write on the notes.
The museum To the east of the complex is the museum. In the monastery's troubled times monks hid many monastic treasures in secret vaults in the areas around the old and new monastery. A selection of these rescued treasures are exhibited in the museum: • Three silver skulls, into which bone pieces of saints were worked, are exhibited together with other relics. • Old documents, including the document from the year 949 of the Islamic calendar (1542 AD), in which the Ottoman occupiers allow the repair (in fact probably the foundation) of a monastery on Mount Olympus. • Through a magnifying glass one can admire very fine wood carvings within a metal cross. • An epitaph, embroidered with gold threads, made in 1578-79 by Arsenius, a monk of the
Meteora monasteries. • Some of the icons rescued from the old monastery. One inconspicuous, but significant exhibit in the museum is a collection of framed black-and-white photographs which hang near the entrance. They show the old monastery in the mountains just before its destruction. A soldier of the German Wehrmacht named Karl Faber took these pictures secretly and sent them to the monastery some years ago. == Literature ==