What I can see

The church of Our Lady Laodigitria or Lagoudiani is a three-aisled basilica with a women’s space and a wooden roof. It is a common type of post-Byzantine architecture in Thessaloniki’s churches. The church is dedicated to Virgin Mary Life- giving spring (Theotokos Zoodochos Pigi) with the basin of the holy water being a carved early Christian, capital which is located in the chapel on the south side. The church’s treasures include the icon of the Three-handed Virgin of the 16th century, as well as other icons created at the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th centuries by the hieromonk David.

What I can't see

The church was the main church of a 14th century nunnery and was part of the Vlatadon Monastery, as it also owned the entire area around the church. We do not know where the name Laodigitria (people’s leader) comes from. According to tradition, the name Lagoudiani (lagos means rabbit in Greek) was given when a hunter was hunting a rabbit, who hid in the church and the icon of the Virgin Mary and the holy water were discovered thanks to it, which is why the church was later dedicated to Zoodochos Pigi (Life- giving spring). During the Ottoman years, it was called the Rabbit Monastery (Tavsan Manastir). In reality though, the name probably comes from the founder of the church Lagoudiatis or Lagoudatis.

Info

• Address: Olympiados & Ioulianou St.

Bibliography