Kaliagra – 29/09/2009
On the last day of our trip to Athos I had the opportunity to take a closer look this harbor building, called Kaliagra, which is situated between Iviron and Stavronikita. It took me a 15 minute walk from Stavronikita.
The arsanas belongs to the monastery of Koutloumousiou, but I did not find more information about this building (f.e., when was it build?).
I drew my own plan of the building (which is not 100% accurate).
Kaliagra – view from the North, with the entrance to the boathouse in the tower (building A and B). Someone forgot the remove the scaffolds, after an attempt to renovate the building?
Stairways to the living-quarters ? (building B and C, stairs G), with on the other/sea site the remnants of balconies.
Kaliagra – the South site of the building (D, C and B)
Kaliagra – the sea site (with remnants of balconies, E)
Kaliagra – the tower or boathouse, building A (It is still in use by whome ……?)
Maybe this inscripted stone above the door in the tower at the first stairs (F and H) will give us some more information. Unfortuanately I only can read the word “arsanas” in the right top corner. Who can help us with this one?
Wim, 27/11: next time more pictures from the interior
Hi Wim,
Kaligra is used as the arsanas of Koutloumousiou Monastery and is inhabited. Im not sure when it was built, but it has always been used for this purpose – to the best of my knowledge.
This is what I can make out from the inscription:
? ????? ??????? ……..???????????? ……?????????????? ,…??? ???????????.
In english: The present arsanas……of the abbot…….Koutloumousiou….(i cant translate the first numeral)second is ? third:? and fourth: ? Indiktionos which means year.
Upon further viewing I have come up with the following on the inscription:
???????? ? ????? ??????? ??? ????????? ??? ?????? ??????????? ??????? ??? ???????????? ????? ??? ?????????????? ? ??? ????..
George F., thanks for your help and the translation the Greek text (and ofcourse I should have seen that this the arsanas of Koutloumousiou!)
Some more info on the Kaliagra Tower. It was build by Neagoe Basarab. Neagoe Basarab was the Voivode (Prince)of Wallachia between 1512 and 1521, so it is logical to assume that the tower was build around that time. This particular harbour was set aside from 985 to be a common harbour that all monasteries could use. The tower has the following dimensions: 5.7 x 8 meters and a height of 16 meters. A canon used to be housed in the east side, presumably to defend from attacks from the sea.
But, You know, it’s a controversial movie. The Iera Epistasía was not so amused, I remember…
See some reactions: http://www.orthodoxie.com/2010/02/protestation-de-la-saintecommunaut%C3%A9-du-montathos-%C3%A0-propos-du-film-le-mont-athos-la-r%C3%A9publique-des-mo.html and http://www.france-catholique.fr/Mont-Athos-La-republique-des.html
Where may I buy this movie?
I only found a Serbian version on the internet (and one on a torrent site)……
Wim
See this French site where You may buy the DVD: http://www.librairietequi.com/Recherche-mont-athos-la-republique-des-moines-dvd.aspx