Agios Athanasios church
Agios Athanasios church is of the Ottoman period.
Modern and Contemporary era (1912 - )
1912 It ceased to operate as a church, as it housed refugees, which caused serious damage to the building.
Ottoman era (1453- 1912)
1817 It suffered serious damage due to a fire.
1818 It was restored and acquired its current form.
1821 After the suppression of the Greek Revolution in Halkidiki by the Turks, over 100 women, children and elderly people were imprisoned here and died of starvation.
1852 The parish founded the first Greek Orthodox School in the city.
Byzantine era (331 AC- 1453)
Roman era (30 BC- 330 AC)
Hellenistic era (322- 31 BC)
Classical era (478-323 BC)
Archaic era (800-479 BC)
Geometric era (-1100- 800 BC)
Prehistory (-1100 BC)
What I can see
The three-aisled, wooden-roofed basilica of Agios Athanasios is located at a lower level than Egnatia Street. It is spacious, has a women’s area, which extends to all its three sides and also has two rows of openings, arched at the bottom and rectangular at the top. It was built during the Ottoman years and that is why we see Islamic motifs, such as the beveled corners with pseudo-stalactites. These motifs do not necessarily serve practical purposes; they were simply an artistic style of the time. In the interior, the wood-carved despotic throne, the pulpit, the iconostasis and the portable icons (18th and 19th centuries) are of particular interest.
What I can't see
It was built on the ruins of a Byzantine church, which was destroyed by fire. According to a golden seal of 1298, as well as historical sources of the 14th century, it was a church of Saint Athanasius or the main church of a monastery, but nothing has been verified. It probably belonged initially (around 1550) to the former archbishop of Veria, Ioannis Malakis, and then passed into the ownership of the Vlatadon Monastery. During the Ottoman rule, it was the religious centre of the Greek quarter and the parish church of the most populous parish. After the Ottoman years, a big dispute broke out between the Vlatadon Monastery and the Thessaloniki Cathedral over the ownership of the church.
Info
- Address: Egnatia & Sokratous St.
Bibliography
Zafeiris Ch. (1997), Θεσσαλονίκης Εγκόλπιον, ιστορία, πολιτισμός, η πόλη σήμερα, γεύσεις, μουσεία, μνημεία, διαδρομές, [Thessaloniki Handbook, history, culture, the city today, flavours, museums, routes], Athens: Exantas
Kampouri E., (2001), Διατηρητέα ξενοδοχεία: αποκατάσταση και εκσυγχρονισμός, [Listed hotels: restoration and modernization], in Παλαιά Ξενοδοχεία της Θεσσαλονίκης, [Old hotels of Thessaloniki], in Epta Imeres, Kathimerini, p.p. 28-31
Serefas S., Petridis P., (2012), Εδώ: Τόποι βίας στη Θεσσαλονίκη, [Here: Places of violence in Thessaloniki], Agra
Tsaktsira L, Papanthimou K., Mantziou G., Kalogirou N., (2014), Θεσσαλονίκη, η πόλη και τα μνημεία της, [Thessaloniki, the city and its monuments], Thessaloniki: Malliaris Pedia
Hekimoglou E., (2001), Τα μυστήρια της Θεσσαλονίκης, [Mysteries of Thessaloniki], Thessaloniki: University Studio Press
