Sights
Dimitsana is a traditional village, which hosts many attractions for every visitor.
Philosophou Monastery
Philosophou Monastery is located in the ravine of Lousios, south of Dimitsana. It is the oldest monastery in Arcadia and one of the oldest Byzantine monuments in Greece. It was founded in 963 by Ioannis Lampardopoulos, also known as “The Philosopher”, who served as secretary (“Protokritis”) of the emperor Nikephoros Phokas. The Old Monastery is also known as the “Hidden School”, as according to tradition it functioned as a school during the Turkish occupation. Later, it developed into an important theological school, operating in Nea Moni (New Monastery). Nea Moni was founded after the middle of the 17th century at a distance of 400 metres from the Old Monastery.
Monastery of Agios Ioannis Prodromos
The Holy Monastery of Timios Prodromos is a historical monastery of Arcadia, built 14 km south of Dimitsana. It is located inside a rock on the gorge of the eastern bank of the Lousios river, at an altitude of 520 metres. It is referred to as the “Great Cave” of Arcadia.
The monastery is built along the entire length of the rock cavity, 200 metres above the riverbed and consists of two buildings, the original one in the east and the more recent one in the north, which dates back to 1860. It was founded by monks who lived in nearby hermitages from the 12th century and came together over the years (at the end of the 16th century) and formed the community of the monastery.
Library of Dimitsana
The library is located next to the Primary School of Dimitsana and is an important centre of knowledge. It was founded in 1764 and for a period of 57 years was enriched with new books. During the Revolution of 1821, part of the collection was used to make cartridges, due to a shortage of paper. Today, the library numbers more than 35,000 volumes, manuscripts and documents, constituting a valuable treasure of knowledge.
Water & Power Museum
The Water & Power Museum was created in 1997 and is located in the Kefalari area of Agios Ioannis, just outside of Dimitsana. The museum highlights the importance of hydropower in traditional society, presenting the basic pre-industrial techniques, which used water as the main source of energy to produce various products. The museum extends over an area of approximately one thousand square metres, highlighting the operation of a large industrial complex during the pre-industrial era.
House of Patriarch Gregory V
Patriarch Gregory V was born in Dimitsana in 1746 and hanged in 1821 in Constantinople. Today his house functions as an Ecclesiastical Museum with icons, ecclesiastical utensils and books, as well as vestments of high priests.
The Dimitsana clock
Very close to the market, next to the church of Agia Kyriaki, is the marble and majestic clock tower that houses the “Dimitsana clock”. It consists of the mechanism and four disks, where the numbers of the hours are written in Latin characters. Each of the four discs of the clock is two metres in diameter. Its bell weighs seven hundred kilograms. The clock was sent by the Dimitsana expatriates of New York around 1900, while its bell, which was sent to Dimitsana from the United States of America in 1910, was kept in the church of Agia Kyriaki. It is made by Tinian marble sculptors and local workers.
The foundation of the project was made in the year 1928, while the work began the following year to be completed in 1934. It is claimed that its like, at that time, did not exist in any part of the world except that of Beijing, China. At the time the clock was made in Dimitsana, there were no clocks. People, especially the peasants, wanted to know the time so that they could estimate their time both during the day and night. This is how the necessity of its existence is justified, which the Dimitsana Greek-American expatriates knew and therefore donated the clock to Dimitsana.
Seeing this work today, one admires its art and architecture, its grandeur and magnificence, its nobility and beauty.
