Category Archives: 01 Lavra

2106 – The Athos maps of Piri Reis

The author of this blog is our Athos friend Japetus, who is an expert on maps. Many thanks for this fine translation and interesting story. Piri Reis was an Ottoman admiral who, after having travelled all around the mediterranean and … Continue reading

Posted in 01 Lavra, maps | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

2094 – Ioannis Koukouzelis, singer and composer

Ioannis Koukouzelis or John Kukuzelis (Durrës, Albania 1280 –  Athos 1360) was a Byzantine medieval Orthodox Christian composer, singer and reformer of Orthodox Church music. Because of his singing abilities, he was called “Angel-voiced”. He was recognized as a saint by the Orthodox Church after his death. … Continue reading

Posted in 01 Lavra, people, Trip 2019 | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

2068 – two old Athos maps and two (old) books

Sometimes beautiful treasures are not far away. Our fellow Athos pilgrim Jacques from Haarlem stumbled upon a second hand bookshop in Amsterdam, showing numerous Athos books in the window. When I visited the antiquarian bookshop last week the owner told … Continue reading

Posted in 01 Lavra, 02 Vatopedi, 03 Iviron, 05 Dionysiou, 08 Xiropotamou, books, maps, Skiti Profitou Eliou | Tagged | 3 Comments

2053 – Ouranoupolis port live webcam and Lavra photo webcam

https://www.meteocam.gr/ChalkidikiOuranoupolisPort This a link to a live webcam that is located at the beginning of the Ouranopolis pier, next to the old “Sidney Loch” tower. The live streaming images (plus sound, especially the high shrieking calling of the Alpine Swift, … Continue reading

Posted in 01 Lavra, news, Ouranoupolis | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

2049 – a report from two Dutch pilgrims of their Athos visit in May 2019

We (Yke and Wouter Bakker, father & son) arrived on May 4 in Ouranoupolis after our flight from Schiphol to Thessaloniki for our second visit to Athos. We visited Athos before in May 2015. We heard that because of strong … Continue reading

Posted in 01 Lavra, 13 Simonos Petras, Skiti Anna, Skiti Profitou Eliou, Trip 2019 | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

2042 – Mount Athos by Edward Lear: new site

Stephen Duckworth has completed a website on the 1856 travels of Edward Lear with all the beautiful drawings of the monasteries. This is the link to the website. Herman Voogd

Posted in 01 Lavra, 13 Simonos Petras, art | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

2037 – more pictures from 1923 made by Whittemore and Pratt

In post 1502 we published some old Athos pictures from 1923, following the Russian revolution a few years earlier. Soon after all funding of Russian monasteries stopped and the monasteries were impoverished. In May of 1923, Thoas Whittemore accompanied scholars … Continue reading

Posted in 01 Lavra, 02 Vatopedi, 09 Sografou, 18 Esfigmenou, 19 Panteleimonos, history, Karyes, people | 3 Comments

2034 – Athos: a history lesson

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2003 – Aural icons of Orthodoxy

Aural icons of Orthodoxy, that is what the semantrons of Mount Athos are. Despite the differences between the monasteries and sketes they have several things in common. Among them the semantron, an essential tool to announce to call the monks … Continue reading

Posted in 01 Lavra, 02 Vatopedi, 03 Iviron, 04 Chilandariou, 05 Dionysiou, 06 Koutloumousiou, 07 Pantocratoros, 08 Xiropotamou, 09 Sografou, 10 Docheiariou, 11 Karakallou, 12 Filotheou, 13 Simonos Petras, 14 Paulou, 15 Stavronikita, 16 Xenofontos, 17 Grigoriou, 18 Esfigmenou, 19 Panteleimonos, 20 Konstamonitou | Tagged , | Leave a comment

1992 – Flora Graeca: Cyclamen, Oleanders, Ferulas and Euphorbia

The pink flowers of the cyclamen like the shadow of the Mount Athos forests. The image above is from the book early 19th century botanical book Flora Graeca.  The oleander is often to be found in or around the monasteries. … Continue reading

Posted in 01 Lavra, 20 Konstamonitou, books, Dafni, nature, Thebais | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments