Holy Monastery of Saint Nikolaos "Galatakis"

The Monastery of Saint Nikolaos Galatakis is located in northern Evia and very close to the shores of the Northern Euboean Gulf, at a distance of 9 kilometers southeast from Elimnion and 67 kilometers northwest from Chalkida. It is built at an altitude of 110 meters, with a southeast view of Mount Kandili, while it is considered the oldest monastery of Evia, which until 1946 was male, and later female. Since 1958 it has been classified as an ancient monument.

According to tradition, the founder of the Monastery is someone from Galata of Constantinople, hence the nickname "Galataki" (although there is also an interpretation from the etymology of the word: milk-cheese), a native master (although the Monastery seems to have existed from in the 8th century AD, built on the ruins of a pre-Christian ancient Greek temple of Poseidon, who around the 10th century, in danger of being drowned by a severe storm near Mount Kandili, invoked the help of Saint Nikolaos. Indeed, the rough sea stopped and "Galatakis" rushed to land, undertaking the construction of a Monastery in honor of Saint Nikolaos.

During the period of the Venetian rule in Evia (1204), the Monastery was destroyed by the fanatical Papists of Boniface of Momferratikos. However, apart from the pirate attacks and arson, the Monastery in 1470 suffered new disasters from the Turkish conquerors. Finally, with a Turkish firman (1838), he was freed from the Turkish troubles. After the Liberation, a European Company took over the operation of the leucolith mine of the Monastery, thus giving it a great economic boost. From 1950 the Monastery began to function as an orphanage.

The Holy Monastery preserves its ancient church in excellent condition, with its three distinct parts (narthex, main church - "catholic" - and Holy Vima) and its famous frescoes, which were completed in 1567 with the financial contribution of Master Francis Fragomustakis, who had also been miraculously saved from a severe storm. The large temple of the Monastery is of the Byzantine style. It was rebuilt in 1557. The spacious narthex, massive and heavy, was later (17th century) attached to the church.