Petrovouni is a small village on the escarpment above Kardamyli on the Mani Peninsula

Mani Peninsula

The Mani Peninsula , also long known as Maina or Maïna, is a geographical and cultural region in Greece. Mani is the central peninsula of the three which extend southwards from the Peloponnese in southern Greece. To the east is the Laconian Gulf, to the west the Messenian Gulf...

 in Messenia

Messenia

Messenia is a regional unit in the southwestern part of the Peloponnese region, one of 13 regions into which Greece has been divided by the Kallikratis plan, implemented 1 January 2011...

 on the southern Peloponnese

Peloponnese

The Peloponnese, Peloponnesos or Peloponnesus , is a large peninsula , located in a region of southern Greece, forming the part of the country south of the Gulf of Corinth...

 peninsula of Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

. It is the home to the Karaveli Monastery and the Faneromeni Monastery of Mani.

Faneromeni Monastery

Most of the monastery buildings are in ruins or have been scavenged for building stone, but the main church, the katholikon

Katholikon

A Katholikon or Catholicon is the major temple of a monastery, or diocese in the Eastern Orthodox Church. The name derives from the fact that it is the largest temple where all gather together to celebrate the major feast days of the liturgical year. At other times, the smaller temples or...

, is still whole and is used on occasion. The church is set back from the road and is in a locked compound. The murals inside date from the 1780s.

External links

• Chapman, John (2007) "Gournitsa and Petrovouni" Mani: a guide and history accessed 29 December 2007