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Gouverneto Monastery or Lady of Angels is one of the oldest monasteries of Crete and constitutes a sample of orthodoxe monasterial architecture. It was built in 1537 in altitude of 260 metres by monks of the Catholic church that abandoned the place due to piracy.
Its construction started during the Venetian period, but the works were interrupted because of the invasion of Turks. The completion of the temple was achieved after many years and with a special authorisation that granted the Turks.
Externally it resembles with Venetian fortress and has towers in its four corners with embrasures, from which however are saved today only two. It has dimensions 40 x 50 metres and allocates 50 cells in two floors. The church of Eisodion of Theotokos or Lady of Angels is parallelogram with dome and allocates columns and sculptural decor that reminds of Italian technique.
There are two chapels, Agii Deka and Agios Ioannis o Ksenos, that is dedicated to the founder of the monastery. There is a very small museum in the monastery that hosts works of ecclesiastical art and other precious relics. The monastery of Gouverneto is located in Akrotiri peninsula, 19 kilometres northern of Chania and 4 km from the monastery of Agia Triada. The visitors should take the way from the city of Chania to the airport, following the signs for the monastery of Agia Triada.
This majestic monastery was built in 1612 by the monks Laurentius and Jeremiah, members of the Venetian orthodox family of Jagarolon.
Built on the ruins of an old church, is of Byzantine cruciform architecture with three domes.
An avenue of cypress trees will take you to the central gate while Ionic and Corinthian columns support the ceiling of the main entrance. Pay attention to a Greek inscription: "There was and there was and there was. But in there was there is and there will be Light, and Light, and Light. But in Light one God really (1631) "
It was burned down by the Turks during the 1821 revolution, desolated for many years and finally renovated yeas later by Calliopios and Gregorios, monks from the nearby area while an impressive bell-tower was added later, in 1864.
In the 19th century the monastery was an important theological school. A boarding school was founded in 1833 while in 1892 it was a seminary.
In our days, the visitor will see a beautiful, flourishing monastery in perfect condition, can visit their library, a small museum with a collection of icons and codices and can taste (and buy) their excellent home made wine and olive-oil.
The big and impressive cave of the Virgin Mary Arkoudiotissa – also known as the cave of the bear – lies in proximity to a historic monastery which is called Gouverneto and is situated in the municipality of Akrotiri in the prefecture of Chania.
In the cave of the Virgin Mary Arkoudiotissa, the most important and representative religious centre where Candlemas Day is celebrated, visitors can see the remains of an old hermitage. The east side of the cave has actually been transformed into a church dedicated to the Presentation of Jesus Christ in the Temple.
At the centre of the spacious hall of the cave, there is a huge, impressive stalagmite resembling a petrified bear which bends over a big stone cistern to drink water. A rock at the bottom of the cave calls to mind the Madonna with the infant Jesus. According to tradition, the Virgin Mary petrified the bear so that the animal did not drink the water that the inhabitants of this arid region needed so much.
Besides this, the Ascetics used to live in this cave and other nearby ones, causing them to be surrounded by an environment of mystery. This cave is a must for all visitors who visit the Akrotiri Peninsula, and especially while going to the Monastery of Gouvernetos and the Monastery of Katholikon, since both of them are next to this attraction.
The Cave of St. John the Hermit or Xenos, in Akrotiri, Chania Prefecture, is located just a few hundred meters away from Arkoudospilios cave. This is located near the abandoned Katholiko Monastery.
Similarly to Arkoudospilios this was a riverbed with a total length of about 135 meters, forming a horizontal room. Its rich decoration is characterized by large stalactites and stalagmites.
At the beginning and the end of the cave there are icons and candles. There is also a carved underground tank with coating, created to collect water. To the right of the gallery, after 15 meters from the entrance, there is a small room with an artificial entrance, where some human bones have been found, probably belonging to a hermit. At the end of the cave, there is a big stone basin, which is told to have been the tomb of St. John the Hermit. Even today, hermitages exist in the nearby vertical walls of the gorge.
Saint John the Hermit
The legend says that St. John the Hermit came from Egypt and was living in Azogires area, when he was enchanted by the beauty of the cave and decided to leave the 98 Fathers who stayed in Azogires (16th century).
Saint John is said to be the founder of the Katholiko Monastery, perhaps the oldest monastery in Crete (6 or 7 century AD). While praying, he hit his stick of the rock and from then sanctified water started flowing. The spring does not dry up, whatever quantity people get. Blind, deaf, kidney patients have been cured with that water, according to the legend.
He lived in the area and was wandering in the rocks, naked like a wild animal. He was eating greens and carobs. His hardships tired his body and he could no longer walk upright, so he bent his body, looking like an animal. One day a hunter hit Saint John accidentally with his arrows, thinking that he was an animal. Saint John, before dying, asked the hunter to move him and die in the cave. This how it is supposed that his bones were found on a rock at the end of the cave, at the “Bed of Saint John”. This rock is said to have therapeutic identities, thus it was usual to see Christians breaking small parts out of it.
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