This dissertation focuses on the aesthetic renovation and the functional modernization of the historic monastery of Saint Nicolas in Varses, in Tripoli.

The Peloponnese, where the monastery is located, is renowned not only for the natural beauty that offers to the visitor but also for some of the most important historical events in ancient and Modern Greek history. In ancient times, maybe the location of the monastery was renowned due to the fact that people used to adore springs as it was generally believed that in these places deities lived. Nowadays, there is a spring underneath the sanctuary of the church. When Greece became part of the Ottoman Empire, known as the Turkish rule, the monasteries of Peloponnese used to help people and during the revolution of Greece, monasteries boosted and supported financially the struggle of Greeks to free themselves.

The monastery of Saint Nikolas was founded in 1030 AD and since then it has been destroyed several times. In the beginning of this project there are three different architectural mappings of the monastery in three different dates: in 1850, in 1950 and nowadays in 2017. Afterwards there is an intensive analysis of the the current condition of the monastery, including the structural failures and the pathology of the construction. In the end, the architectural proposal is offered in order to accent the existing buildings, rearrange the functions needed to the monks and through an extension achieve the functionalism of the monastery.

The main goal of the architectural design was to make a proposal that would be financially achievable in these difficult financial times and at the same time serve the needs of the monastic community.