Russian Church (Church of Sotira Lykodimou)

Sotira Lykodimou church or Russian Church of the Holy Trinity is located at Philellinon street and Amalias Avenue. This Byzantine church serves for the Russian Orthodox community of Athens. The octagonal church with a high dome is the largest Byzantine church in the city and was built according to the scholars before 1031. It was the catholicon of an Orthodox nunnery that was erected on the site of an older church that, according to tradition, was built by Empress Irene of Athens in the 8th century. The church has a long history as during the Frankish period and the first period of the Turkish period (until 1669), the monastery was occupied by Catholic monks. Later it became an Orthodox monastery again but it suffered great damage from the earthquake of 1701 so it was rebuilt. During the administration of the city by Hadji Ali Haseki, many buildings were demolished to build the city wall, with the result that the monastery became the parish of the monastery of Kaisariani. During the battles of the 1821 Revolution the monastery was damaged, and so in 1847 it was bought by the Russian government for the needs of the Russian parish. It was then that it was rebuilt and the heavy bell tower and side tribunes were added. During the construction work of the Bodosakis Mansion, which is located next door, the cemetery of the monastery was found, while in 1960 a small grove and square was created behind the church. In the basement of the church are catacombs - underground chambers with traces of water from the Lyceum of Apollo, an ancient tunnel and water well, the hypocaust of a Roman bath, crypts of the 11th century Byzantine Monastery of Lykodomos, which make up a descent into one of the most atmospheric places in the city.