Agios Elissaios

This simple, single-aisle basilica on 14 Areos Street in Monastiraki was built in the mid-17th century in the gardens of a mansion owned by the Athenian Homatianos-Logothetis family. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, this unimposing church hosted some of the most influential figures of the time, including cantors Alexander Papadiamantis and Alexander Moraitinis and clergy including father Nikolaos Planas, who was later canonised by the Orthodox church. Under German occupation, before the land was officially acquired by the Greek state, a large part of the old church was destroyed. After excavations here in 2004 uncovered many of these destroyed sections, the church has been extensively restructured to reflect its former glory.