Monastery of Tourliani
Whitewashed island monastery guarding an icon locals credit to the apostle Luke himself.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to the Monastery of Tourliani in Mykonos follows one of roughly seventy icons across the world credited to Luke the Evangelist, a doctor who the New Testament never once shows holding a brush, and asks how that attribution took hold. It traces the monastery's own uncertain origin story, from monks fleeing Paros in the 1540s to a dispute over whether the site is named for a bay or for a nun, and reaches back to an eighth-century bishop caught in a fight over venerating painted images. You'll also hear the local claim about why woodworm has never touched the panel itself, before the guide brings you to the gilded altarpiece Florentine craftsmen built around it in 1775.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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