Zaraka Monastery, Medieval monastery ruins near Stymfalia, Greece

Zaraka Monastery is a medieval monastery ruin near Lake Stymphalia with preserved architectural remains from its founding period. A vaulted gatehouse, sections of the church, and portions of the defensive wall are still visible at the site today.

Zaraka was founded around 1225, when Geoffrey I of Villehardouin asked the Cistercian General Chapter to send monks to Achaia. The abbey was last mentioned in the chapter's records in 1260 and abandoned in 1276, after the end of Latin rule in Constantinople forced Western monasteries in Greece to close. Excavations since 1993 have shown it was resettled in the late 14th century and occupied intermittently into the mid 16th century.

The monastery served as a center for monastic life and spiritual devotion, where monks maintained daily routines of prayer and labor within the fortified walls. The layout of the buildings still reflects how the community organized their religious and practical activities.

The site is open for visitors year-round and is managed by the 25th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities. It is advisable to wear sturdy footwear since the paths across the ruins have uneven terrain.

The church's stones were partly taken from the ancient city of Stymphalus, not from a temple of Artemis. Excavations by the University of Toronto from 1993 to 1996 also found graves in and around the cloister, among them a headless man and one holding a German banker's token of the mid-16th century.