Taxiarches

The monastery of Taxiarches stands fifteen kilometres south of Aigio in Achaea, at the foot of Mount Klokos. It is a castle-monastery, founded in the early seventeenth century, in the post-Byzantine period. Its tower, raised at the same time, is the most striking feature. It may have served primarily as a bell-tower, though if so it was a bell-tower on a grand scale, and its defensive purpose is beyond doubt. The structure survives in relatively good condition, a solid reminder of a time when monastic life needed to be protected as much as prayed for. The tower’s bulk dominates the approach, and one can easily imagine it doubling as a lookout and refuge. The setting, beneath the mountain and away from the coast, gives the place a withdrawn, watchful character. It is a compact example of how faith and fortification went together in this corner of the Peloponnese.