Monastery of Pantanassa, Archaeological Site of Mystras, Sparta, Peloponnese, Greece, Europe

The Pantanassa Monastery is a monastery dedicated to the Mother of God Pantanassa in the Byzantine city of Mystras in the Peloponnese. The monastery was founded in the 15th century by John Phrangopoulos, a senior official of the Despotate of Morea. According to an inscription, the consecration of the church took place in September 1428. In the mid-19th century it was converted from a monastery of monks to a nunnery of the Greek Orthodox Church. It is the only still active monastery in Mystras. The nuns run it largely independently, i.e. they grow and process their produce themselves. The monastery consists of numerous buildings: the main church, cloisters, a refectory, a kitchen, baths, storerooms, a cistern, a hospital, guest rooms and numerous other agricultural buildings. The main church forms the center of the monastery, and the building was built under the influence of Western European architectural styles, especially the Gothic. The other buildings were arranged around the church and the entire complex was protected by a wall. The monastery church contains very well-preserved wall paintings representing biblical scenes and saints, made by Byzantine painters mostly in the mid-15th century, therefore datable to the Palaeologus era.