Byzantine Monastery of Panagia Kosmosotira

In the centre of the small town of Feres, 28 km from Alexandroupolis, is one of the most important Byzantine monuments in Greece. The Monastery of Our Lady of Cosmosotira or Vira, as it was the name of Feres during the Byzantine period, was founded in 1152 and remains an emblematic building, both historically and architecturally. The founder was the Emperor Isaac Komnenos, son of the Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos and the Empress Irene Ducaina.

The monastery features 12th century iconographic decoration with large, intense scenes featuring members of the Komnenos family, as well as religious themes such as the Last Supper, Pentecost, the Communion of the Apostles, Hierarchs, Prophets, Seraphim's hexaphores and the figure of the Virgin Mary. The iconography is considered a fine example of the Constantinople School, and the five-tiered housing is interesting. Inside the present church, which was the monastery's catholic church, there is a ceramic ornament depicting the single-headed eagle, symbol of the Komnenoi dynasty of Trebizond.

In 1371, the catholic was converted into a mosque, and in the early 20th century, conservation and restoration work began. Today the monastery is a place of pilgrimage and is the official seat of the World Thracian Association.