A drawing of the church of the Serail after its opening on june 16th 1867 by Tsar Alexander II Alexandrovitch.
and a “air-view” lithograph of Skiti Andreou (about 1900):
And here a historical picture of the Serail on 5th of july 1905 (Feast of Athanasius): in front of the trapeza numerous monks sit in the courtyard and have their meal in the open air.
60 years later this sad picture is taken: the last surviving monk in the summer of 1965. Soon after he died and the Serail was handed over to Vatopediou, the owner of the land of Skiti Andreou.
This picture is from september 2th 1908, with the Archimandrite Seraphim of the Serail. At that moment the power of this settlement was at its height. The picture is made by the “house-photographer” of the Skiti.
Is this person maybe the same as the one who was burried in courtyard, as shown in post 515 ?
All pictures are from the book: Athos – Vorhoelle zum Paradies / Erich Feigl – Michael Epp (photographer), Paul Zsolnay Verlag – Wien Hamburg 1982 ISBN 3-552-03400-5. Many thanks to them.
Wim, 16 july
Athos - Agios Oros 
Speaking about painters: for me is Theofánis The Cretan (16th century) the greatest. His Theotókos in the church of I.M. Stavronikíta is wonderful. He also painted a lot of fresco’s, on Agion Oros and Metéora as well. Wallpaintings about the Paschastory (27th of April 2008) see http://www.eikastikon.gr/xristianika/kris/index_en.html.
On this site you will also find a drawing made by Kóntoglou of I.M. Ivíron (1923): http://www.eikastikon.gr/xristianika/kontoglou/index2_en.html
Great site here. Thank you for putting this information out there.
see a panorama picture of Athos on http://www.patricklovephotography.com/ : Travel Places nr 42.
WV
There are some more fascinating stories and writings from Photios Kontoglou, regarding Iconography, and Byzantine Music (Psalmi). I have a web site that you will find interesting
to read. My wish would have been that I could have met Mr. Photios Kontoglou. I spent my life following in his footsteps. Hopefully with the help of God, someday… I will reach
or come close to what this man longed for.
The web-site is:
http://icons.byzantine.googlepages.com