Saint George Monastery at Karydi

The Monastery of Saint George (Agios Georgios) in Karydi , province Apokoronas, is located about 2km east of the village Vamos, at the site where the settlement Karydi Agiou Georgiou was located. The monastery was abandoned for many years but was restored in 1996 and today it is operating normally.

The monastery is unique to Apokoronas province and is one of the most interesting monuments of folk architecture in the prefecture of Chania . The trademark of the monastery is the old olive oil factory ( fabrica ) with 12 arches, whose roof has collapsed.

There are still four olive mills, of which only their bases survive because the millstones have been removed. The large size of the factory and the existence of four oil mills, the unique case throughout Crete, witnesses the large quantities of oil produced here.

Before the foundation of the monastery, the area was a settlement and fief of a Venetian nobleman, whose mansion is still preserved near the monastery. When the Ottomans came to Crete, they forced the locals to either abandon the village of Karydi or become Muslims. 4 families changed their faith to such an extent, that they eventually hated Christians.

They asked the Turks to turn the Church of Saint George , located in the village, into a mosque. Thus, they imposed exhaustive taxes on the priest of the church so as to force him to leave the church and its land property.

However, the priest granted the church to the monastery of Agia Triada Tzagaroli , which could then pay its taxes. Since then, several monks of Agia Triada came to Karydi and built a new and larger temple with its current form.

The property of the monastery grew rapidly, as many Christians donated their land to the monastery. Even some Turks ceded their property to Saint George .