Chryseia

The Kathisma of Agios Vassilios, also known as Paliomonastiro, began life in the ninth century as a near-independent monastery founded by a monk named Vassilios. Its present form, however, dates from the early 1300s, when it became a dependency of the great Serbian monastery of Chilandarion, a foundation granted to the Serbs by the Byzantine emperor in 1198. Perched on a seaside rock west of Chilandarion's harbour, the complex shows clear defensive intent: a moat, crossed by a movable bridge, guarded the main gate. The oldest surviving structure is the principal tower, a typical late-Byzantine work with sturdy side buttresses, rising fifteen metres on a base of 11 by 13.5 metres. Built in 1301-1302 by the Serbian king Stefan Milutin, it once carried a small chapel on its summit, now vanished. In 1330 his son added the church of Agios Vassilios, giving the site its name. The Kathisma is occasionally called the Fort of Chrysi, recalling an ancient Greek city of that name nearby. The condition remains relatively good.