Monastery of Dormition of Theotokos

Near Torniki in the Grevena region, the Monastery of Dormition of Theotokos rises on a low hill above the Aliakmonas River. Founded in the twelfth century, this women's Orthodox monastery preserves a two-storied, vaulted catholicon, a protected building whose remarkable construction weighs some 260 tons. In September 2011, engineers moved the entire church to an adjacent hill to rescue it from the rising waters of the artificial Hilarion lake, created for a hydroelectric dam. The feat saved a Byzantine monument while the landscape around it vanished beneath the reservoir.