Little Metropolis

Small Metropolis
Rating 8110

7 may 2026Travel time: 11 july 2024
Another name is the Small Metropolis, because it is located next to the cathedral. A very small church, which is built entirely from architectural elements (spolia) of older buildings, from the classical period to the 12th or 13th century.
The name "gorgoepikos" is a Byzantine epithet of the Virgin Mary, meaning "the one who hears someone quickly and hastens to someone's call". It is one of the Byzantine-style churches built in the city of Athens. It is built on the ruins of the ancient temple of Elithia, the so-called Lithyria and Eleupherus, and today, distortedly, "Eleupherus". The architectural style of the church is semi-composite cruciform with an inscribed dome or Byzantine style of the post-Justinian era. It has a square plan and a dome resting on an elegant and rather high drum.
The dimensions of the building are 12.20 x 7.60 m. The temple has four columns, a cruciform shape in plan, with a three-part narthex, the central vaulted part of which is higher than the two side ones. The walls of the temple are made entirely of large undecorated marble stones and reliefs borrowed from ancient Greek, Roman and Byzantine monuments, while brick was not used anywhere. Many of the building's materials come from classical antiquity, while the builders reworked them, adding new decorative elements to match the newer architecture of their time. The sculptural images combine Christian and pagan elements with ancient Greek decoration. On the facade and above the main entrance there is a frieze of Pentelic marble with images of zodiacal constellations and festive events representing the months of the Attic calendar.
Translated automatically from Ukrainian. View original

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