The monastery of Panagia Chozoviotissa, practically hanging from the bare rock for more than a thousand years, is built in honor of an icon of Our Lady brought from a shipwreck on the island. The Monastery of Hozoviotissa in Amorgos is an authentic wonder, one of the most visited places in Greece. Built in a daring position, set halfway up a vertical wall that rises up to 300 meters above sea level, it looks like a dazzling white brushstroke in contrast to the rocks, like a Tibetan monastery.
he Monastery of Hozoviotissa is the second oldest in Greece and its construction dates back to 1088.
It is said that the building was built in honour of the Virgin Mary, whose sacred icon of 812, saved from destruction during the war of icons, arrived here from Palestine on a boat with some monks. When the news reached Constantinople, the Emperor Alexis I Comnenus ordered the construction of the Monastery in the rock in front of where it was found. The building stands alone, set on a steep rock face 300 meters above the sea, is 40 meters high and only 5 meters wide and has 8 floors; in some places the building is only half a meter wide, forming a real labyrinth of lime and wood, including chapels, monks’ cells, warehouses and kitchens.
The result is a perfect blend of nature and man’s masterpiece; from below the building looks like a mirage of dazzling white, while from above it offers a breathtaking view of the sparkling blue waters of the Aegean Sea.
It is incredible to think how such a delicate construction could have survived through the millennia to the present day.
