2250 – arsanas Chromitsa and the border buildings

Posted on October 4, 2022 by athosweblog

On a half hour walk from Ouranopolis you will find the border to the Holy Mountain. Behind the fence there is a cluster of five buildings: one for a policeman (on the right when standing at the gate), a house for the employee of the Holy Mountain and three deserted buildings belonging to the arsanas of Chromitsa. Chromitsa lies higher uphill and it used to be the hospital of the Russian monastery Panteleimonos, nowadays it is vineyard of Tsantali, where the grapes of the house wine of the Kremlin grow (the ‘Putin’-wine that costs €150).

Two of the arsanas buildings
The border; “The entry is prohibited at all times. Those wishing to visit the Holy Mountain are allowed only from Ouranopoli by ship. From here crossing is illegal and punishable by law”.
The house of the police man on the right
Left: the house the employee of the Holy Mountain
View from the entrance
With a double headed eagle on the gate
In former days the border was guarded by a small monk named Makarios, here in 1989.
The large building with two floors, with broken windows and almost in ruins, although the roof is still intact.
The smaller building with two closed doors
The first door
The second door
With the year 1883 in iron numbers above it
The passage to the arsanas buildings
An old wall and the jetty
Looking back at the passage
the two-storey building photo 1, covered with hanging plants
the two-storey building photo 2
the two-storey building photo 3, with an old tv antenna
A ruin of a small building that was attached to the big one beside it
In 2007 this small building was still intact.
The North side of the dock-yard house
Both buildings
The dock-yard house
A window with iron bars (the two-storey building)
A door of the two-storey building
Inside the two-storey building: not a save place to be
The border fence at the sea

Wim Voogd, 4/10

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2 Responses to 2250 – arsanas Chromitsa and the border buildings

  1. Gerard Koolschijn says:
    October 23, 2022 at 8:35 pm

    Just a question: Is this location the same as the one called Chromitsa?

    Reply
    • athosweblog says:
      October 23, 2022 at 8:51 pm

      Hello mr Koolschijn, there different views how to spell the name of this settlement: Sidney Loch used the name “ChRomitsa” in his book and we used this in our weblog. Recently I found out that the correct name must be “Chomitsa”, so without the “R”. I changed the spelling in our weblog last week. But you are right, it is the same place.
      Kind regards,
      Wim Voogd

      Reply

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