sightseeing


 


The Zoodohos Pigi monastery (Chryssopigi)

Female monastery built in 1690. The first king of Greece, Otto, terminated its operation in 1834. Chryssopigi was the last resort for the inhabitants each time Sikinos was raided by the pirates: neither the heavy wooden gate nor the high walls, crypts, secret passages, battlements, ramparts, breakout exits toward the cliff averted raping, slaughtering, and annihilation of the defenseless peasants.
The monastery can be visited every afternoon & evening.

Episkopi temple
A temple-shaped funerary building of the 2d-3d century AD. It is the most peculiar and interesting monument of Sikinos. Located in the wilderness of the mainland, Episkopi temple is surrounded by a complex of Byzantine chapels, cells, ancient ruins, wall stones and fragments of marble sculptures.
Enigmatic and silent, it was initially thought to be a temple of Pythios Apollo but the strange building with the underground vaulted crypts has been identified as belonging to the type of the roman mausoleums, burial monuments of the 2d-3d AD.
Anyhow, around 17th century the building was transformed into a domed christian church. The uniqueness of Episkopi lies in the fact that it preserves the basic characteristics of both its Roman and its Post-byzantine past and is a standing monument of the site's long history.

Pantanassa church
The main temple of Sikinos was built in 1787. Inside one can see the gold-painted, wood-carved temple.

Byzantine collection
The small museum is located in Hora, main square. It contains the island's Post-byzantine icons: after the fall of Constantinople many painters fled to Crete. Until the 16th century they developed a style of icon painting called School of Crete. The icons of the Sikinos Byzantine collection belong to this school.

Folklore museum
Located in Horio, at the old oil-press building.

Mavri Spilia (black cave)
The largest cave of Sikinos and one of the largest in Cyclades. It is located on the northern side of the island, under the Crryssopigi monastery and can be accessed only by boat.