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Daphni Monastery

Daphni Monastery lies about eleven kilometres north-west of the centre of Athens, in Chaidari, next to the Sacred Way to Eleusis. It was built on a sanctuary of Apollo destroyed in AD 395 and its foundation is placed at the end of the 6th century; the current building was reconstructed around 1080. It is a cross-in-square church with an octagonal dome, and its narthex incorporates columns from the ancient temple. The Frankish crusaders sacked it in 1205 and it passed to the Cistercians of Bellevaux Abbey, who added Gothic elements; it was abandoned in 1458. In 1990 UNESCO declared it a World Heritage Site together with Hosios Loukas and Nea Moni of Chios. Its greatest treasures are its 11th-century mosaics on a gold background: in the dome, a Christ Pantocrator surrounded by sixteen prophets, and scenes such as the Nativity, the Crucifixion, the Baptism and the Annunciation. You get there by metro, line 3 to Agia Marina, and bus.

Things to do at Daphni Monastery: 4 missions

• Look for the Nativity and the CrucifixionWalk along the walls until you find the mosaics of the Nativity and the Crucifixion on a gold background.
• Look at the Pantocrator in the domeGo into the church and raise your eyes to the dome, where Christ Pantocrator appears surrounded by sixteen prophets.
• Notice the stone and brick wallOutside, observe the masonry of rectangular stone blocks framed by courses of brick, typical of Middle Byzantine architecture.
• Find the columns from the Temple of Apollo in the narthexIn the narthex, look for the columns from the ancient sanctuary of Apollo, reused in the church.

Near Daphni Monastery

Source: Web oficial - Monasterio de Dafni (Efórato de Antigüedades)