Holy Church Panagia Pantanassa

At one of the busiest spots of Athens, at the Monastiraki square, is one of the oldest and lesser-known churches in the city, dedicated to Panagia Pantanassa. Nowadays, it is pretty lower than the ground level due to the formation of the area around it, however in its initial form it dominated at this central area of the city. The present-day surviving church dates probably from the beginning of the 17th century and is built over an older monument. As we are informed by a patriarchal sigil of 1678, it was the catholicon of a women’s monastery, the metochi of the Monastery of Kaisariani, to which it was donated by Nikolaos Bonefatzis. In this period, it was called Mega Monastiri (Large Monastery), however a few years later it declined and since 1821 the name Monastiraki prevailed and it was given to the wider area as well. In the year 1890, interventions were made to the monument and a stone bell tower was erected, which was later, in 1911, replaced by the present day one. Architecturally, the church belongs to the type of the three-aisled, vaulted basilica, whose middle aisle is roofed with a semi-circular vault, which on the east and west ends in conches with squinches. This way of roofing is an element of the Ottoman architecture and is applied to mosques and secular buildings already from the 15th century, having as a model the conches of Agia Sophia in Constantinople. The side aisles are roofed with cross-vaults. For the construction of the walls, they have used abundant material from ancient buildings. The interior of the church is decorated with more recent wall paintings, while significant portable icons survive as well.