Museum of Nea Moni Chios
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The looting and devastation suffered by the monastery over the nine centuries of its history mean that nothing has survived of its original wealth. All the items on display in the small Museum of Nea Moni Chios date from later times, and derive from donations. The Museum is housed in a cell that was in ruins, but was restored in 1980. The exhibition contains several interesting examples of ecclesiastical and secular silverware dating from the 18th and 19th century, and ecclesiastical gold embroideries and icons dating from the same period. One of the most outstanding items on display, on account both of its rarity and of its artistic merit, is the famous epeychion, or pefki of Nea Moni. This is a large (2.50?3.50m.) silk cloth woven with silver and gold thread, made of four pieces so skillfully sewn together that it resembles a single cloth. According to the inscription woven into it, the fabric was made at the expense of Nea Moni by the weaver Antonios, when Neophytos was abbot. It was probably used as a screen for the main door of the Katholikon. Amongst the representations with which it is adorned can be seen two crowned figures (the founders?). The pefki is a superb example of the Chios weaver?s art, for which the island was famous