The Lower East End and the Church of Panagia Chrysyphitissa

From the main square we begin our tour by walking through the passage below the espiscopal residence and along the heavy gray buttress of Elkomenos. A small stairway leads us to a lower level. From here, another stairway to the left leads to the entrance of the diaconicon of Christos Elkomenos. It is constructed out of marble parts of older churches. The pilaster of an iconostasis lies next to the steps, almost like a banister. Straight ahead, through a passageway, we find a Venetian style house on the right hand side of the street, with the only remaining Venetian chimney pot in Monemvasia (see plate 14). On the opposite side of the street, behind the Elkomenos complex, stands the small church of Hagios Andreas.

If we now proceed around the Venetian house to the right, and down the long wide stairway, we can see to our left some beautiful restored houses. At the foot of the stairway turning to the right we find a small square. To the south of this square lie large gardens with old trees (see plate 21), the likes of which we hardly expect to see on this infertile rock. The last house on the side of the square closest to the cliffs bears two copies of old pargetings.

A small street leads from the southeast corner of the square around to the right, up to the square (Pera Tapia) before the church of Panagia Chrysaphitissa and to the south wall. The large estate, surrounded by a wall, next to the south wall and facing the church used to house the German officers' mess during the German occupation of Monemvasia. Its buildings were erected and destroyed during the Second World War. Today the ruins are reconstructed as a beautiful private home with a shadowy inner courtyard. On the north side of the square one house has a particularly beautiful balcony; it has a cast iron railing and is on neoclassical marble consoles. Immediately next to the house, behind a high wall, a garden lies in the shadow of old fig trees.

The church bell of Panagia Chrysaphitissa hangs in a tree in the square in front of the church. It was cast in Messina, Italy. In the middle of the square we can see the openings of cisterns which provide a large reservoir of water beneath the square.