An abandoned monastery in Western Greece is about to become an accommodation facility for refugees from Syria, local media reported on Wednesday.

The monastery is located in a mountainous region on the border between the regions of Achaea and Elis (Ilia) in the northwestern Peloponnesian Peninsula.

The property of the Poretsos Monastery, dedicated to the Dormition of the Virgin Mary, belongs to the Metropolis of Elis but it has sat empty for years now since no monks have lived there for some time.

Its long history goes back all the way to the years of the Byzantine Empire, with the tenth century being the most probable date of its establishment.

The premises of the monastery were vandalized by the Nazis in 1943.

Read more: greek reporter