About 8 km north-east of Sparta, near Chrysafa, this fortress-like monastery of the Forty Martyrs was founded in 1305 and moved to its current site in the early 17th century. It was burnt in 1770, in 1826 and again in 1943, and each time came back.
The main church of 1620 has wall paintings by Georgios Moschos of the Cretan School. The chapel of Zoodochos Pigi (1707) is said to have hidden a secret school. Today it is a men's monastery with a museum, a library of rare documents and a guest house. Feast day: 9 March.