Ιερά Μονή Αποστόλου Ανδρέα Μηλαπιδιάς

About the museum

The Holy Monastery of the Apostle Andrew in Milapidia, near Peratata, has Byzantine origins. It was re-founded in 1579, when three nuns bought the land on which there had been a church of the Apostle Andrew and began a small women’s monastery. In 1639 Princess Roxani became a nun at the monastery under the name Romylia and gave it large sums of money. From Mount Athos she brought the precious relic of the right sole of the Apostle Andrew, with the hole left by the crucifixion. The monastery celebrates its feast on the Friday after Easter and on 30 November.

The ecclesiastical Byzantine museum was founded in 1988 by Metropolitan Spyridon of Kefalonia and since 2002 has been housed in its own building, constructed for this purpose on the grounds of the monastery. The collection was conserved by the 6th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities, which also designed the exhibition. The works date from 1300 to 1900.

Among the most important exhibits are the archiepiscopal sakkos (vestment) of Kefalonia, embroidered by the nun Theodora Kanali, and two handwritten letters of Saint Kosmas the Aetolian from 1777. Also on display are detached wall paintings from the church of the Monastery of the Taxiarchs of Milapidia, the shroud of Patriarch Gregory V, the epitrachelion (stole) of Saint Nectarios, the shirt of Saint Panagis Basias, and icons and relics from churches on the island that were destroyed in the earthquakes of 1953.

Highlights

• Ecclesiastical Byzantine museum with works from 1300 to 1900
• Archiepiscopal sakkos of Kefalonia and letters of Saint Kosmas the Aetolian
• Detached wall paintings from the Monastery of the Taxiarchs of Milapidia
• Icons and relics from churches destroyed in the 1953 earthquakes
• Relic of the sole of the Apostle Andrew

Permanent exhibition

• Μόνιμη έκθεση του Εκκλησιαστικού Βυζαντινού Μουσείου – Icons, wall paintings, ecclesiastical vestments and relics from the 14th to the 19th century, mainly from churches of Kefalonia.

Founded

1988

Operated by

Ιερά Μητρόπολη Κεφαλληνίας

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