Holy Monastery of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary Vytouma

It is located northwest of Trikala, in the province of Kalambaka and in the immediate vicinity of the community of the same name. According to the sources, it was founded in 1161 at the expense of Konstantinos Tarhaniotis and his wife Zoi. Only the catholic church and a chapel survive from the monastery, around which a monastery has been developed in recent years with new buildings.

Entering the precinct of the monastery south of the gate, one finds the chapel dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, built in 1559. The chapel is mentioned in its testamentary inscription as a “propylaion”, a passageway to the monastery, but according to more recent studies it was used from the beginning as a chapel. It is a small one-room church covered with a furni (shield) and is inscribed with frescoes painted in 1559 by the archimandrite Nektarios.

In the centre of the enclosure is the monastery’s catholic church, which was a parish church until the 18th century. The katholikon, dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, built in 1600, is a three-aisled basilica with a raised nave and a later (1662) narthex on the west side. The painted decoration and the remarkable wood-carved iconostasis of the catholic church date back to 1600. In the same year, the portable icons of the monastery were also created, which are works of the well-known hagiographer Drosinos from Fanari Karditsa.

The monastery, after its conversion into a nunnery (1952), is flourishing.