Church of Aghios Eleftherios, “Little Metropolis,” Mitropoleos Sq.
Tucked beside the grand Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens in Mitropoleos Sq., the Church of Aghios Eleftherios, also referred to as “Mikri Mitropoli” (Little Metropolis) or Panagia Gorgoepikoos (“Panagia [Mother of God] Who Grants Requests Rapidly”), is a small but exceptional Byzantine monument within the coronary heart of downtown Athens. Constructed on the ruins of an historical temple devoted to Eileithyia, the Greek goddess of childbirth and midwifery, this tiny church, a mere 7.6m lengthy and 12.2m broad, stands out for its distinctive architectural components and wealthy historic layers.
In contrast to typical church buildings of the Center Byzantine interval, Aghios Eleftherios is constructed virtually fully of “spolia”—reused marble blocks and reliefs from earlier Greek, Roman, and earlier Byzantine constructions. Its partitions are adorned with a frieze of 90 sculptural panels, mixing historical motifs with Christian symbols. The church’s cross-in-square format, capped with an octagonal “Athenian” dome, adheres to Byzantine architectural norms, but its façade, paying homage to an historical temple, units it other than different church buildings of the interval.
The precise date of the church’s building is debated, with estimates starting from the ninth to the early thirteenth century. It’s usually attributed to the tenure of Archbishop Michael Acominatus Choniates, who served because the Metropolitan of Athens from 1180 to 1204. Nonetheless, some historians counsel that the church might have been constructed later, through the early Ottoman interval, because of its use of spolia and references from Fifteenth-century accounts.
Initially devoted to Panagia Gorgoepikoos, after a miraculous icon of the Virgin Mary, the church later turned generally known as Aghios Eleftherios, the protector of pregnant ladies in Greek Orthodoxy. All through its historical past, the church has served varied roles, together with housing the general public library of Athens within the nineteenth century. In 1856, it was restored to its unique state, with latest additions eliminated.
Regardless of its diminutive measurement, Aghios Eleftherios has performed a major function in Athens’ historical past, most just lately serving as the lying-in-state location for Constantine II, the final king of Greece, in 2023. Right this moment, it stays a treasured hyperlink between historical and Byzantine Athens.
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