The Last Monk of the Strofades: Memories from an Unknown Greek

The Last Monk of the Strofades: Memories from an Unknown Greek Island

The story, in photographs, of the last caretaker of the ancient monastery on the remote, windswept Strofades islandsâ€”an architectural and historical treasure now in danger of destruction
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The Strofades: two small, flat, windswept islands rising out of the Ionian Sea, known to the ancient Greeks as the home of the terrible Harpies, and to most modern Greeks simply unknown. On the larger of the two islets, Stamfani, stands a massive fortified monastery, founded as early as the thirteenth century, for centuries a refuge for honest seafarers and a target for pirates and Turkish raiders. In its heyday, this imposing compound was home to some forty farmer-monks, who kept the entire island under cultivation; by 1976, it was home to just one, Father Gregory Kladis (1937â€“2017), who alone tended the monastery until 2014. Today the monasteryâ€•badly damaged by an earthquake in 1997â€•lies empty and in danger of ruin.
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This book is intended to tell the world about the Holy Monastery at Strofades, and encourage its preservation. At its core are the words of the last monk himself, Father Gregory, who guides the reader through his historic monasteryâ€•its chapels, refectory, mills, bakehouse, and living quartersâ€•and the natural beauties of its island setting, as depicted in Robert McCabeâ€™s superb photographs. The testimonies of the boatman who brought Father Gregory his supplies, as well as the lighthouse keeper who was once his only companion on the island, lend texture and contextâ€•as do essays on the history, geology, and architecture of the Strofades, and architectural drawings that reconstruct the monasteryâ€™s phases of construction.
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Nobody who peruses this volumeâ€•the result of a yearslong collaboration between more than a dozen researchers and friends of the Strofadesâ€•will be able to forget the islandsâ€™ last monk, or be unmoved by the plight of his monastery.
Country USA
Brand Abbeville Press
Manufacturer Abbeville Press
Binding Hardcover
ReleaseDate 2019-09-03
UnitCount 1
Format Download: Adobe Reader
EANs 9780789213358

Country	USA
Brand	Abbeville Press
Manufacturer	Abbeville Press
Binding	Hardcover
ReleaseDate	2019-09-03
UnitCount	1
Format	Download: Adobe Reader
EANs	9780789213358

The Last Monk of the Strofades: Memories from an Unknown Greek Island

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