Greece - Matsouki, Vyliza Monastery

The Vyliza (or Viliza) monastery is located near the village of Matsouki. It is built in a wild landscape on an altitude of more than 1.000 meters, overlooking over a gorge of Kallaritikos river. The name “Viliza” - from the Latin word “vigilo”, which means “guardian” - was given to the monastery. Its location and fortuitous construction justify the name.

Most probably the monastery was founded in the 11th century. But the most ancient written testimony of Vyliza is the icon of St. John the Baptist, dating back to 1676. The monastery was one of the most important in Epirus with a rich library and a great participation in the local community. The monastery has many cells around the catholicon in a rectangular courtyard. The little church has splendid frescoes, dating back to 1793. The precious icons of the church are replicas. The original icons are kept safely in a museum in the neighboring village of Matsouki.

In 1893 the monastery was abandoned and then destroyed. Since 1981 the monastery has been restored.

To visit the monastery, we first had to collect the key from a cafe in the village of Matsouki. After parking the car at the roadside, we could start a walk to the monastery. The stone-paved path went constantly up and down and counted many steps. When it started raining on the way back, it was quite a challenging walk of almost 2 kilometres. (See PiPs on the right side of the main picture)