"Panagia Glykofilousa"(Virgin Mary Sweetly Kissing) at Petra of Mytilene island - stock photo

One of the most beautiful and original religious monuments is the historical pilgrimage "Panagia Glykofilousa"(Virgin Mary Sweetly Kissing) at Petra of Mytilene island."nIt is built on the top of a rock of about forty meters .It is built on the top of a rock of about forty meters and who wants to worship the grace of Virgin Mary needs to climb 114 stairs."nIt is built on the top of a rock of about forty meters and anyone who wants to worship the grace of Virgin Mary needs to climb 114 stairs.On the rock, at the time of the Gatelouzos hegemony, there was a fortress. Inside the fortress there was a small church of the Virgin Mary, before the conquest of Lesbos by the Turks in 1462. In the year 1609 at the place of it was erected a bigger Church. In 1840 the Holy Temple was restored in its present form, Three-aisled Basilica with a wood-carved Despotic Throne and a wooden painted Temple. In the Holy Pilgrimage, besides the miraculous icon of the Virgin Mary, the Holy Relics of St. Tryphon, Saint Catherine and Saint Charalambos are kept in an elaborate reliquary.