- This was our third stay in the city and we’d had enough time looking at the wonders of Ancient Greece to have the headspace for contemplating its Byzantine heritage. There are a few gems.
- The Church of the Holy Apostles sits in the southeast corner of the Ancient Agora. It dates from the last quarter of the 10th C and was the first significant church of the middle Byzantine period in Athens. It is the only monument in the Agora, other than the Temple of Hephaestus, to survive intact since its foundation. The church was built partly over a 2nd-century nymphaion. The few surviving wall paintings in the central aisle date to the 17th C.
- Another day we walked out to the excellent Byzantine Museum in the Kolonaki district. It has a great collection of sculptures, icons, paintings and artefacts that are atmospherically lit.
- Next to the Athens Cathedral in Plateia Mitropoleos stands the tiny Church of Agios Eleftherios which dates from the 12th C. The cruciform-style marble church was erected on the ruins of an ancient temple and its exterior is a mix of medieval beasts and ancient gods in bas-relief, and columns appropriated from older structures. It was once the city’s cathedral but now stands in the shadows of its successor.
