Jaap van 't Veen's photos with the keyword: Καλάβρυτα

The Odontotos rack railway runs between Diakopto on the coast of the Corinthian Bay and Kalavryta on a height of almost 750 meters. It follows the Vouraikos river over bridges and through tunnels. The construction of the network started in 1889 and it was inaugurated on 10 March 1896. It has a length of just more than 22 kilometers. With a gauge of 0,75 meter the Odontotos is one of the narrowest in the world. The railway has some characteristic stations. The main image shows the Kalavryta railway station and PiP1 the Mega Spileo station.

The Monastery of Mega Spileo ( Μονή Μεγάλου Σπηλαίου ) - formally the Monastery of the Dormition of the Theotokos ( Ιερά Μονή Κοιμήσεως της Θεοτόκου ) - is built on the western slopes of Mount Helmos at a height of more than 900 meters. The monastery's architecture reminds of a fortress and it has eight floors. The cells of the monks are built around a cave. The monastery – one of the oldest of Greece - was originally built in 362 by two Thessalonian brothers, when a shepherd girl found an icon of the Virgin Mary inside a cave. The icon was made of wax and mastic and it is believed that Apostle Luke painted it. The icon survived a lot of fires and destruction and can still be admired in the monastery (PiP5). In the year of 840 Mega Spileo Monastery was burnt down by a religious group. It was rebuilt in 1285 by the emperor Andronikos Paleologos, but suffered many destroying fires along its history. The monastery suffered another destruction in 1943 when the Nazi troops, after the massacre of Kalavryta , put the Monastery of Mega Spileo on fire and killed its twelve monks and its staff, either shooting at them or throwing them from the rocks. Some managed to survive, hidden in close caves after having taken some valuable icons with them. Nowadays the Monastery of Mega Spileo is an imposing construction with a 17th-century church that hosts remarkable frescoes, mosaic floors and a bronze door with relief decoration. The Monastery also hosts a museum that displays carved wooden crosses, antique manuscripts, and Holy Gospels.

In October 1943, Greek guerrillas captured some 80 German soldiers on a patrol mission, following an ambush in the mountains outside Kalavryta. After negotiations for a prisoner exchange failed, the captives were executed, with only two making a lucky escape undetected. In response the German army started a guerrilla cleanup operation that included terrible reprisals aimed at the local civilian population. Troops converged to the town of Kalavryta from all directions, burning and looting 50 villages along the way and executing many male civilians. Upon reaching Kalavryta on December 13, 1943, the soldiers began setting the town ablaze. They then gathered the town’s entire population at the schoolyard and separated them in two groups. All able men age 13 and upward were led to Kapi Hill, just outside the town, while women, the elderlyand children were locked inside the schoolhouse. (The clock in the cathedral's left tower always reads 14:34, the time at which the horrifying event took place on the December day in question in 1943.) The schoolhouse was set on fire with over 200 women and cildren inside. The soldiers began executing nearly 500 men - only 13 men survived the execution - by machine gun fire. While the execution took place on the hill, the panicked, choking prisoners managed to smash through the school’s doors and escape, while others threw their children outside the windows of the burning building to save them. Today, a memorial complex stands on the hill where the execution took place. It includes a large cross, ossuary, the harrowing sculpture of a lamenting woman of Kalavryta, as well as some on-the-spot graves that remained on site since that day.

The monastery of Agia Lavra is one of the oldest monasteries in Peloponnese. The first one was built in the year 961, but it was burnt down three times: in 1585 by the Turks, in 1826 by the armies of Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt and by the German troops in 1943. Finally, in 1950 the monastery of Agia Lavra was rebuilt. Which means the buildings are quite modern, except for a small chapel - dating back till 1600 - where the Greek War of Independence of 1821 was declared (PiP1). The monastery’s museum is devoted to historical treasures. Among them perhaps the most remarkable is the Revolution’s Banner; the first flag of independent Greece (just a pity photography is forbidden in the museum) .