Monastery of Panagia in Goumenissa

The Holy Monastery of Panagia Goumenissa is intertwined with the city itself, as the capital of Paeonia was built around it. In 1346 part of the Monastery of Iveron, the Monastery was founded during the 14th century and the response of the faithful and the presence of many ascetics who visited and stayed there turned it into an ecclesiastical center of the area. The killing of the Abbot of the Monastery during the Turkish occupation, in retaliation for the resistance of the monks, named the city that was created around it "Igoumenissa" or "Goumenissa", as it is called today.

The monastery is one of the most popular pilgrimages in Macedonia and has been operating as an independent monastery since 1951. The current Catholicos was built in the late 17th century and in 1802 was renovated, including the addition of a nunnery. It belongs to the type of traditional basilica and has frescoes and an exceptional wood-carved iconostasis. In the Monastery are kept Holy Relics of several Saints and the most valuable object is the icon of Panagia Goumenissa, a work of the 13th century, which had initially led the faithful to the construction of the monastery.