Virgin Mary of Helicon
Virgin Mary of Helicon is also an historical monastery of Central Greece, dating from the 12th century. It is located on the eastern slopes of Mount Helicon in Boeotia, very close to Arachova of Parnassus. The Monastery of the Annunciation, as it is its official name of the Virgin Mary of Mount Helicon celebrates the day of the Annunciation, on 25th of March, but also in all the celebrations of Our Lady.
Virgin Mary of Mount Helicon kept its operation during the Ottoman period and it is contributed to the spread of Greek education. A crypt of the monastery hosted teachers and students of the secret school – it is the underground chapel of Agios Georgios of Our Lady of Mount Helicon which can now be visited and transported to the conditions and atmosphere of the era. During the reign of Otto, the Annunciation’s Monastery stopped working, and reopened in 1959 as a feminine monastery. Today 26 nuns live there.
The Monastery of Our Lady of Mount Helicon is built into the green, with landscaped gardens and flower beds, and just outside there is a huge plane tree and a small cool spring with limpid water.