The Dormition of the Theotokos Monastery at Damandri

The Damandri Monastery is located in the vicinity of Polichnitos and it is dedicated to the veneration of the Dormition of the Theotokos. It was founded in the post-Byzantine era, at a time when many monasteries and churches were established. The monastery is known as Damandri, the name of a small Byzantine-era settlement which is recorded in a metropolitan codex of 1567-1652.The original  monastery catholicon still stands along with service buildings, which for many years housed the Retirement Home of the Diocese. The catholicon is a small single-space, clay-tiled roof basilica. The church wall paintings date to the 16^th century and some of them have probably been painted over in the 18^th century (1733) by Michael Homatzas from the island of Chios. The construction of the wooden altarpiece is the result of combining many other altarpieces from neighboring churches and it is dated in the late Ottoman period. In the past the monastery had two very significant portable icons: an icon of Jesus Christ and an icon of Panagia Hodigitria (Virgin Mary the Guide). The first icon had to be relocated to the Church of Panagia at Agiasos and the latter, the Panagia Hodigitria icon, is now on display at the Church History Museum at Mytilini.