Έργο Στερέωσης και Αποκατάστασης.Consolidation and Restoration Project.
The Monastery of Agios Georgios is located at the foot of the Skaroi mountain. Its foundation dates to the end of the 15th-early 16th century and is a protected monument. During Ottoman (1479-1684) and Venetian (1684-1797) eras, but also in the 19th century, the monastery flourished, acquired great property, the right to exploit the adjacent forest, and became an important economic and spiritual centre of Lefkas. In the 20th century, it gradually declined and was eventually abandoned.
The monastery Katholicon lies in the centre of the courtyard, around which the monastery reception hall (archontariki), the cells, the kitchens and the warehouses are developed in wings, giving the complex a fortress-like form. The church is an aisle-less basilica with a saddleback roof measuring 7×14 meters, with a semicircular apse to the east, while the ornate wood-carved altarscreen, a work of the 18th century, isolates the Sanctuary from the main church. Part of the eastern wall belongs to the original church of the 16th century, while the rest of the building dates to the 18th. The church preserves rare, for Lefkas, Late Byzantine wall paintings of the late 15th-early 16th century, such as the depictions of the Ascension and the Annunciation above the Sanctuary conchs, as well as remarkable wall paintings of the late 17th-18th century, echoing the post-Byzantine art of mainland Greece.
The church’s poor state of preservation, such as the severe cracking of the eastern wall, the wall paintings’ damage and detachment, the corrosion of the roof, the coatings detachment, as well as the alteration of the frames and the altarscreen and the panelling (ourania) collapse, made its restoration imperative. The project “Consolidation and Restoration of the Katholicon of Agios Georgios Monastery at Skaroi, Lefkas” was included in 2020 in the Operational Programme Ionian Islands, with a budget of 500,000 euros and was implemented by direct labour by the Ephorate of Antiquities of Aetolia-Acarnania and Lefkas, Ministry of Culture.
Under the project, the walls were consolidated, the cracks were sutured, and the damaged areas were reconstructed; new jointing was applied, overall grouting materials were used, a perimeter ring was constructed from reinforced concrete, and a structural mesh system was applied. A new roof was mounted and a new panelling, and traditional-style coatings were applied. The frames were replaced with new wooden ones, along with security gratings, while the altarscreen and wall paintings were conserved and restored. Access from the entrance to the Katholicon was configured, and the courtyard area was embellished.
The fully restored Katholicon was delivered to the public at the end of 2023.