Monastery of Pantocrator

The Holy Monastery of Pantocrator is situated on a hill east of the village of Angelokastro, between the river Acheloos and lake Lysimachia, 20km southwest of Agrinio.
Being a female monastery, located opposite the town’s Byzantine castle, it is dedicated to the Transfiguration of Jesus, and celebrates on August 6. The monastery is renowned for its holy relics, including reliquaries and blessing crosses.
The building complex of the enclosed monastery is of a rectangular parallelogram plan, while the cells and surrounding wall create the feeling of a fortress.
In 1746, the central church, as a brick inscription reads, was “fully renovated by Aetolian philotheists”, very likely on the site of a significant Byzantine church. In the interior, it is covered with vaulting, supported by the perimeter walls and by two rows of masonry pillars. A distinct feature is the large arch of the sanctuary, whose semicircular cylinder externally turns into a seven-sided one, while the dome, with its octagonal, prism-shaped drum, is about 12m high from the floor. Regrettably, no old frescoes are preserved in the monument.