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One of the particularities
of Athens is that in every corner of every street you're going to
find a church. Athens churches are everywhere: in little parks, in
small streets, in big roads, between huge buildings or on top of little
hills for churches are in Greek's everyday life.
| The church
of Panaghia Kapnikarea |
The church of Panaghia was built at the beginning of the 11th century
on the ruins of an ancient temple, possibly dedicated to the goddess
Athena or Demeter, and was probably named after its donor. It is a
cross-in-square church and has a dome witch it's supported by four
Roman columns. You can also admire three apses on the east side and
a narthex on the west. In the north side of the church, a chapel dedicated
to Aghia Varvara was added as well as the exonarthex, witch was built
slightly later in front of the two churches.
The church's walls were built in the typical cloisonné masonry
and are decorated with limited brick, Cufic ornaments. |
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| The church
of Panagia Gorgoepikoos or Agios Eleftherios |
This 12th-century little church is considered as one of the finest
of the city's Byzantine relics. It stands on Plateia Mitropoleos,
in the region of Plaka (part of the historic centre), in the shadow
of the large and modern Metropolis Cathedral. With much more historical
value than its new neighbour, this humble church was built on the
ruins of an ancient temple witch was dedicated to the goddess Eileithyia.
It is partly built with Greek Pentelic, Roman and early Byzantine
marble blocks and decorated with marble murals, such as one dating
from the 4th century BC on witch you can admire the symbols of the
twelve months, as well as an external frieze of symbolic beasts. It
is a cross-in-square church in a four-column type and only the dome
is the part built in the typical cloisonné masonry. This church
was initially know as "Little Metropolis" and was dedicated
to the Madonna, the Panaghia Gorgoepikoos; much later, in 1863, it
was dedicated to Aghios Eleutherios, which explains its double name.
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30 minutes from the town centre by bus (from palteia Koumoundourou)
you can visit the 11th century most important Byzantine monument of
Attica (it's even on UNESCO's World Heritage list). The temple was
named after the daphnia laurels witch was sacred to Apollo. It was
destroyed by the Goths in 395 AD but you can still see, in the narthex
of the church, the only surviving Ionic column.
You can also admire some extremely fine mosaics (of Greece's finest
ones) representing saints, monks, apostles, prophets and guardian
archangels.
But the amazing thing to see is the representation of the Christos
Pantokrator (Christ in Majesty) in the centre of the dome.
In 1205, the monastery was sacked by the renegades of the Fourth Crusade;
rebuilt and then occupied by monks until the War of Greek Independence;
it was used as an army barrack and finally as a hospital for the mentally
ill.
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