Places of interest in Tylisos Municipality

• Monasteries, Churches
• Monument in Keratidi area of Damasta
• Windmill in Gonies
• Old Watermill in Gonies
• Astirakas in the church of Agios Konstantinos in Astiraki
• Old marble fountain in Palia Vrisi area in Kamari
• Traditional Fountain in Kamariotis square
• Exhibition of sculptures of Marathian sculptor Ioanni Klinaki

Monasteries, Churches
In Kera area, the small church of Virgin Mary constitutes a sample of the church-building of the Byzantine era. It has one hall with a cupola. The latest interventions have altered its character.

In Tylisos there was once the old monastery of Agios Georgios which during the last centuries of the Turkish rule was glebe of the Monastery of Chalepa in Milopotamos. Nowadays, only the one-hall church and some relics from the old cells are being saved. In Tylisos some old monastery seems to have flourished whoose history is not know until today. It was located in an agrarian area of the village, where the church of Agios Antonios lies today. Next to the church, ruins of buildings and units of elaboration of agricultural products are being saved.

In Tylisos you must see the wall-painted church of Christ (14th century). On the north wall you will see the “arkosolio”, the tomb of the owner of the church. The murals are exceptionally interesting with narrative character. They illustrate scenes from the life of Virgin Mary. Very beautiful is the figure of the baby-holder Virgin Mary, while the form of the fleshless Holy Mary of Egypt is worth noticing. Here her manducation is pictured.

The church of Agios Antonios is situated on the edge of Keramoutsi village and constitutes an archaeological ornament of region. Built around 1800, in its interior murals of Saints were found up to when the pillage of Turkish Autocrat became perceptible. The Muslim conquerors destroyed the “eyes” of Saints in the murals by digging them and the result is even today visible. As if this was not enough, thy broke down the half church wanting wanting with this way to scare the Greeks. Later however, a resident of village built the destroyed part of church, creating a church which is separated in two parts: low are distinguished the murals and higher the cementitious church.

In Keramoutsi there is also the church of Virgin Mary which has a big interest. Originally, the church had one hall. It seems that it was destroyed by an unknown cause (an earthquake?) and sometime in the 16th century it was reconditioned and the today cruciform church was created.

Generally, in the villages of the Municipality there are important post-Byzantine churches, such as Virgin mary in Gonies, Agios Georgios in Keramoutsi, Agios Georgios in Damasta, Virgin Mary in Kamari, etc. 

Agios Panteleimonas Monaster 
After Marathos village there is a dirt-road on the right towards Fodele. Around 6 km from the crossroad, on the left of the road there is the Monastery of Agios Panteleimonas at a height of 170 metres.

According to the tradition, the monastery was built in the second half of the 17th century (among 1660-1670) by three monks of Agios Antonios in Galinoi, after the destruction of their monastery by pirates. It is located at the boundaries of the Municipality of Tylisos, about a kilometer before Fodele, in an area tight with wild vegetation. It had the type of a fortress and is surrounded by wall. Next to the gate there is a built-in, marble inscription with the year 1977 (the establishment of the monastery is being located a few years before) and on the lintel there is an inscription with the year 1861 (that was when the great renovation was being made, by Neofytos Pediotis). Outside the monastery, 100 meters west of the entrance, an arched water tank is being saved (it was built in 1866 as the built-in inscription indicates), with a very old fountain in front of it. The monastery of Agios Panteleimonas always had its gates open to the rebels and that’s why has repeatedly suffered destructions from the Turks. In 1824, it was plundered and ruined by the Turk-Egyptians of Husein. At the second year of the revolution of 1866, it was burnt down by the men of Resit Efenti. Yet, in the biggest destruction of the monastery the Turks had no interference. In 1972, the abbey and all the cells of the monks were pulled down, except of two. It is said that the reason that prescribed this act was the… expectation that a treasure would be found, which was believed to be buried in the foundation of the monastery. Nowadays in Agios Panteleimonas lives only one monk.

Contact Number: +30 28 10 52 13 41

Agios Panteleimonas Monastery 

Church of Agios Georgios in Kamariotis 
At a central point, there is the three-kliti (“klitos” is the aisle that divides the Christian church in two parts, or more if there are more than one klitos) arch-covered church of Agios Georgios, built in the 16th century. On the lintel of the west gate there is the lion of Agios Markos and on the bow of the central klitos the two-headed eagle, the blazon of the Byzantine family of the Kalergis.

The emblem of Democracy of Agios Markos in the lintel of Agios Georgios of Kamariotis 

Church of Virgin Mary in Kamari
Just a few metres outside Kamari village, in an area full of vineyards, there is the gentrificated Byzantine church of Virgin Mary.

Church of Virgin Mary in Kamari

According to a local legend, the church bell of Agios Georgios had a golden bullet and a tremendous sound that could be heard as far as Chania. When the Turks came to the island, the residents hid the bell, probably in a hollow of the rock above which the church is built, and no-one ever saw it again… In 2004 renovating works of the Agios Georgios’s church started and the hopes that the bell with the golden bullet would be found were reanimated.