All about Zakynthos

The Ecclesiastical Museum is housed next to the Holy Monastery of St. Dionysius. It was inaugurated on November 12, 2000 and its collection includes sacred vessels, vestments, manuscript icons, church books and other items from the monastery. Most of the icons in the museum belong to Cretan painters who worked in Crete or Zakynthos after the fall of the major Cretan cities to the Turks. A significant number of works belong to painters from local workshops in Zakynthos, while the two brilliant Zakynthian painters, the most important of the Ionian school, Nikolaos Koutouzis (1741-1813) and Nikolaos Kantounis (1767-1834), are represented with characteristic works. One of the most important exhibits is a 13th century icon which was transferred from the holy monastery of Strophades and depicts the Virgin Mary Thalassomachousa.