Monastery of Prophet Elijah

The Monastery of Prophet Elijah stands on a rocky spur northwest of the mountain village of Zeli in Fthiotida, Central Greece, reached by an eleven-kilometre dirt road. It is a textbook example of a Greek fortified monastery, though its precise chronology is uncertain. The site may have originated in the Frankish period, between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, but it certainly underwent numerous alterations in later years. The katholikon, or main church, assumed its final form in the eighteenth century, and it is to this period that the fortifications are most plausibly attributed. The monastery is now abandoned, yet structurally sound following a recent renovation, the last works having been completed in 2004. While these efforts respected the original layout, the restoration has inevitably stripped away much of the complex's authenticity and medieval character, leaving a monument that is well preserved but somewhat sanitised.