Daphni or Dafni (Modern Greek: Δαφνί; Katharevousa: Δαφνίον, Daphnion) is an eleventh-century Byzantine monastery eleven kilometers (6.8 miles) northwest of central Athens in the suburb of Chaidari, south of Athinon Avenue (GR-8A).

These monasteries are famed as masterpieces of middle Byzantine architecture, and are especially noted for their sumptuous interior gold-ground mosaics.

Traces of old frescoes found on the walls show a person with bands, perhaps Emperor Basil II, holding a scroll.

Othon gave the Daphni Monastery to the Cistercian Abbey of Bellevaux,[4] who added their own cloister and twin pointed arches in the Gothic style to the façade of the church.

The contrast between the light color of the stone blocks of the cloisonné and the red bricks around the windows, and the orange roof create a sophisticated and understated elegance.

Visitors to the church are immediately drawn to the most important and famous of the mosaics: Christ Pantocrator (Lord of the Universe) watching over all from the crown of the dome.

This medallion is recognized as representing exceptional artistic quality: it has been described as “one of the greatest creations in art”[1] and "[o]f all the Pantokrators in the Byzantine lands, from Kiev to Cefalu, this is the most awe-inspiring and convincing".

The prophets are wearing ancient garments and hold a parchment containing text proclaiming the glory of Christ or the Second Coming.

The body of Christ is depicted in a classic, athletic style, but unlike Greek sculpture, the anatomy is not true to life.

The faces of Saint John and the Madonna have the flatness and heavy lines of the Byzantine style, but they express the calm of Greek statues.

[1] According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, "the ensemble represents a visualization of the Christian cosmos, its effect created by an intricately conceived interplay of pictures and architecture.

Space in fact fuses the decoration into one giant image, in which the ruler, hailed by the prophets surrounding him, presides in his sphere above the host of saints that people the lower part of the room."

Other important mosaics include: Prayers of Joachim and Anna, Annunciation of Joachim, The Virgin with Anna, The Washing of the Disciples, Christ at the Last Supper, The Crucifixion, The Resurrection, Dormition of the Mother of God, Angel to Receive the Mother of God, Prophet Sophonia, St. Bacchus.

The figures in the mosaics are more naturalistically represented, and they blend more smoothly into their surroundings[9] The decoration of the monastery is inspired by the spirit of the times.

The pictorial perspective, the figure styles and gestures, the modeling of the figures along with simplicity of design, and the dazzling splendor of color reflecting from the gold and silver tesserae distinguish the Daphni mosaics among the mosaics of the eleventh and twelfth centuries as particularly grand specimens of Byzantine art in general.