The Lady Akrotiriani or Toplou monastery as renamed at the 17th century, is located between Sitia and the palm forest of Vai and will take 3.5 hours drive to get there from Heraklion .
After several attempts of restoration and renovation the monastery of Toplou has emerged today as one of the monasteries of Crete that are very interesting and really worth the long route to get there . It is the only monastery which survived of the many small and large monasteries that were once in the area of Sitia but were destroyed by wars and raids .
The monastery of Toplou has priceless icons from the 15th century, some of them being works of Ioannis Cornaros.
In 1646, the monastery fell to the Turks who forced the monks to disperse and then they plundered it. Throughout the Ottoman rule the monastery suffered tremendous losses because it was regarded as a refuge for the persecuted and a center for struggle and its wealth was an object of desire for the Ottomans . After the revolution of 1821 and the strict orders of Sultan Mahmut to the local rulers of Crete , the local ruler of Sitia Ibrahim Afantakis began a slaughter in the province , from which the monks of Toplou were not spared .
In 1828 came the turn of the Turks to be besieged in the monastery by a revolutionary body led by Sitian Ioannis Kontos, Ioannis Makris and Joseph Dermitzakis . The Turks were forced to surrender but the monastery suffered new retaliation .
There is no clear evidence but indications that in the monastery functioned a “secret school” during the Turkish occupation but it is certain that in 1870 there was a school established in it.
During the German occupation, in the monastery there was a wireless and the Germans arrested and executed in 1944 the abbot of the monastery Yennadios Sylignakis and tortured and imprisoned the other monks. The abbot’s bones were transferred in 1955 to the war memorial outside the Monastery .
The abbot of the monastery Philotheos Spanoudakis has been active to organize and highlight the monastery as Museum of Engraving and Greek Folklore Prints made by the monks of Mount Athos in the 18th and 19th century .
Apart from the amazing icons in the monastery , there are also exhibited objects of Ecclesiastical Art as Gospels, silver – gilded crosses, seals , revolutionary banners, vestments and others.
At the facade of the catholicon ( main church of the monastery ) you will see the inscription of the ” Arbitration of the Magniton “, which describes the friction of the ancient city of Itanos with Ierapetra for the island of Lefki , which was a very important stop for fishing sponges and shells in ancient Crete .
The monastery has four monks today, but it has great wealth and influence in the region . The charismatic abbot brought new life to the monastery of Toplou , which in recent decades produces excellent organic products , such as wine , olive oil and raki , bearing the name ” Toplou ” and can be purchased by visiting the monastery .
Toplou is open to the public daily from 9 am – 1 pm and 2-6 pm
As in other monasteries in Crete, you must be dressed appropriately and also photography is not allowed inside the Museum and Temple .
