The monastery is situated 3 kilometers to the northwest of the village of Dryovouno in the Kozani regional unit. The main church is the only building next to the monastery that has survived to the present: the remaining structures are new ones.

The church is a cruciform one as its dome is supported by two pillars from the east and two columns from the west. The side premises of the altar (the prothesis and deaconicon) are covered by blind domes. The naos is extended to the west by one more space covered by a big blind dome which is lower than the central one. There is a spacious narthex also covered by a blind dome.

According to the ktetor’s inscription on the western wall of the naos the church was erected in 1592 and painted in 1652. In the end of the inscription, the author of the murals wrote his name in smaller letters – the icon-painter Nikola of Linotopi. The patron-saint niche of the western facade of the narthex (today’s eastern wall of the newly-constructed exonarthex) was painted simultaneously with the naos. The frescoes in the narthex date from 1808.

The mural painting program is extremely rich and well-thought out. In the altar, in addition to the common themes there are also some rarer depictions. In the bema there is a full cycle of scenes of the Post-Resurrection appearances of Jesus and 7 scenes of the Miracles and the Acts of Jesus. An extended version of the troparion of the Canon of Holy Saturday [“Above enthroned and below in the tomb”] is represented in the prothesis and the Hymn to Mary “All of Creation Rejoices in Thee” in the deaconicon. Christ Pantocrator is depicted in the central dome and the drum underneath is divided into several areas with depictions of the celestial forces, prophets as well as the Divine Liturgy. The composition “The prophets from on high” [Svishe prorotsi] together with scenes from the Akathistos Hymn of the Theotokos are represented in the center of the blind dome in the western part of the naos.

The cycles of the Great Feasts, the Passions, the Miracles and the Acts graded by importance run along all walls of the naos. Many scenes from the Old Testament, prefigurations of the Virgin, a life cycle of Saint John the Baptist etc. were added. Full-length saints are depicted in the bottom register.

The murals are entirely preserved and have been restored recently.

Maria Kolusheva