Wood at the Monasteries

The theme of this post is a little different--wood as used in the monasteries and at the convent.  Each of the twenty monasteries on Mt. Athos owns a percentage of the land on the peninsula depending on its size.  Most of the land consists of forests on steep slopes, and workers hired by the monasteries clear-cut a small portion of their forests each year.  This supplies wood for various uses.

This is one of the small, sturdy horses that are used, along with mules, to move logs off the steep slopes at Xenophontos.  Some of the animals roam more freely at certain hours, so you have to watch your step near the monastery.

The smaller, less valuable wood is used for firewood for some kinds of cooking and heating.

Larger pieces harvested from the slopes as well as purchased timbers are used for building as here on the veranda off the abbot's quarters at Pantokrator.  The structure and joinery seen here is fairly standard.  The main joint is called a half-blind dovetail, I think, since the tenon goes only half-way through.

Along with bells, the monasteries have wooden samandron to signal the time for church services.  This is a large, suspended one, but there are smaller versions carried by monks, who walk around striking them rhythmically.  I was frequently awakened by the sound in the morning.

Xenophontos has a very active woodshop, where the monks and workers construct and carve furniture for monasteries, other religious institutions, and others who might want to commission it.  Here is one of the fathers carving a design.  In the background is a worker from Egypt doing the same.  There are actually two Egyptian woodworkers that work and live at Xenophontos. (All workers live outside the monastery proper.)  Both are devout Muslims; it would seem that labor costs outweigh other factors that one might think would rise to the top.

This picture shows something of the scale of the woodshop, which is very large.  There is a small sawmill in another building.

This is a door panel at Akritohori that was probably made and carved at Xenophontos.

This is a beautiful podium (there is a better term, but I can't remember it) in the new church at Akritohori.  It is beautifully constructed and inlaid with differently colored woods and mother-of-pearl.  It was not made in one of the monasteries, but instead commissioned from a special supplier of such church furniture.