Monastery of Megaspelia, Arcadia - Illustration from Edward Dodwell's Views of Greece

Monastery of Megaspelia, Arcadia is an illustration from the collection Views in Greece from Drawings published by Edward Dodwell in 1821.

The Monastery of Megaspelia, perched on a cliff in Arcadia, is an impressive sanctuary of devotion and solitude. Its ancient walls and panoramic views of the valley make it a place of spiritual retreat and meditation, preserving the Orthodox monastic tradition.

The literal transcription of the notice accompanying this plate is reproduced below:

The Emperor Andronicus Palaeologus founded this famous monastery; John Cantacuzenus and Constantine Palaeologus enriched it. It is situated near the river Kuraikos, in the most mountainous part of Arcadia, about six miles east of the city of Calabryta, and eight miles west of the Gulf of Corinth.

It takes its name from Megaspelea, from the large cavern in which the greater part of the monastery is built. It rests on a narrow ridge of rock and is built against the opening of this natural cavity of singular size. In fact, the greater part of the building is located within the cavity itself, and only a very small part projects beyond it. This building, of picturesque and irregular shape, consists of several stories, with twenty-three windows on the facade, and is distinguished by its whiteness.

Immense masses of rock rise from this cavity to a height of five hundred feet and form a magnificent precipice, suspended above the monastery in such a way that when the Albanians, who had just plundered several places in the region, saw that it was impossible for them to take the monastery head-on because of the difficulty of the approaches, so narrow that it can easily be made impenetrable, they attempted to accomplish their objective by letting enormous pieces of rock roll onto the building itself, but all these blocks fell in front of the outer walls. The monks attributed this happy circumstance to the protection of the Virgin, of whom the monastery possesses an image said to have been painted by Saint Luke, and which is the palladium of the convent. This image serves at the same time to enrich its coffers with the offerings of piety and gratitude of the pilgrims and devotees whom the fame and sanctity of the place attract to visit it.

The monastery of Megaspelea supports about four hundred and fifty monks. Most of these monks are scattered throughout the countryside, usually occupied with overseeing crops or cultivating the land. The cultivation consists largely of plantings of Corinthian grapes, the fruit of which is shipped from the Gulf of Corinth to England.

Nature unfolds its most magnificent and varied forms around Megaspelea. The whole place abounds in picturesque effects. The mountains, composed of majestic rocks rising sheer, are adorned with ancient trees and different species, which sometimes stand out in isolated clumps, sometimes condense into dense forests.