The Great Cave Monastery is 11 kilometers northeast of Kalavryta,
Stuck in the bare, vertical, west side of Helmos, at an altitude of 900 meters, hanging over the steep ravine of Vouraikos.
The founders of the monastery are the Thessaloniki monks Symeon and Theodoros, who, after living alone on Mount Athos and worshiping in Jerusalem and Sinai, with the help of the Euphrates Shepherd, discovered the icon of the Virgin Mary in an inaccessible cave. Tradition wants the image to be the work of Evangelist Luke. Then in 362, the Monastery took its first form, and is considered the oldest monastery in Greece. The original church was preserved until 1934, when it was destroyed by fire, but it was rebuilt in 1937. During the course of the monastery, it was destroyed several times, in 840, in 1400 and in 1640.
In 1943 the German troops plundered the monastery and executed 16 people, visitors and monks. In addition, 9 monks were executed at the High Cross. After the liberation of the Germans, new buildings were built.
The monastery complex is an eight-storey building and its cathedral is dug in the rock. It is a cruciform temple with two splinters. The main church has frescoes of the 1653s and 19th centuries, wood-carved iconostasis and remarkable marble sculptures.
The monastery has more than 3,000 volumes of books, rare gospels, parchments, a rare banner, high value images, precious crosses and many more relics.
