Monastery of Skafidia, Byzantine monastery near Skafidia Beach, Greece

The Monastery of Skafidia is a Byzantine structure set on elevated ground above the Ionian Sea and features a central fortress with four cylindrical bastions. The building combines religious and military architecture, reflecting both the spiritual and defensive needs of its time.

Founded around the 10th century at the mouth of the Iardanos River by the Ionian Sea, the monastery took its name from the Panagia Skafidiotissa icon kept in its church. Its archive and library of manuscript books record its role in the Greek Revolution of 1821. In 1970 it was converted into a women's convent.

The monastery holds a collection of manuscripts, religious objects, and votive offerings that show how local faith communities expressed their devotion. These items reveal the spiritual practices people brought to this place over many centuries.

The monastery lies in the village of Skafidia, about 12 km from Pyrgos, near the mouth of the Iardanos river by the Ionian Sea. It is an active convent of four nuns under the Metropolis of Ilia and Oleni, so visitors should dress modestly and keep to the areas open to the public. The church holds the Skafidiotissa icon of the Virgin.

The monastery became a women's convent in 1970; by 2019 it housed four nuns. Its archive and library hold handwritten books on liturgical, musical and icon-painting subjects, and on the monastery's role in the Greek Revolution of 1821. The former abbess, nun Makaria Anastasopoulou, died on 12 January 2016; her successor is nun Makaria Efstratiou.