What I can see

The Athens Cathedral is dedicated to the Annunciation of the Virgin and is a Hellenic-Byzantine building, a mix that is, of Byzantine style with neoclassicism. It has 2 bell towers and inside there are the sarcophagus of Patriarch Gregory V and the reliquary of Saint Filothei. The western façade is adorned with a mosaic depicting the Annunciation, a work by Elli Voela, the first female professor at the Athens School of Fine Arts. Recent interventions in its interior have significantly altered its original character. The most recent include both the mismatched and artless lions of the western entrance. In 1999, it was hit by a large earthquake and has undergone restoration works. 

What I can't see

It was constructed using materials from 72 ruined Athenian churches. After Greece became an independent state, the church symbolized the historic continuity of Greek Orthodox Christianity, from the Byzantium to the present. The choice of Hellenic-Byzantine architecture is not an accident, as it is a synthetic style that combines elements from the ancient and medieval past of Greece. The Great Idea (that is, for Greece to regain the borders of the Byzantine Empire) at that time “required” equal recognition and promotion of Byzantium with classical antiquity. The cathedral is an important reference point for the city and its residents, as it hosts many official ceremonies, celebrations, weddings and funerals of important persons, while it was also used for coronations of kings in the past.

Info

• Address: Mitropoleos Square
• Postal Code : 10556
• Phone: +30 210 3221308

Bibliography