Trapezon at the Great Lavra

Photographer

Horlbeck, Frank R.

Date

• July 13, 1970

Summary

• View of the trapezon (refectory or dining hall) of the Great Lavra monastery. The refectory stands directly across from the entrance to the catholicon (main or communal church). It includes post-Byzantine paintings executed by Cretan artists between the 16th and 17th centuries. The Great Lavra is the first coenobitic monastery established on Mount Athos. (Lavra means a monastic complex with a large population). The monastery was founded in 957 by St. Athanasius of Athos (with a chrysobull from Emperor Nikephorus Phokas), and its foundation initiated the systematization of monasticism across the Athonite peninsula. The monastery was well supported by subsequent Byzantine emperors and later, after the fall of Constantinople, by Danubian princes and the Russian czars.