Ragava is located northeast of the Acropolis and specifically on Prytaneion Street, just below the Anafiotika area of Plaka. Nicholas De Gress and Chrysi Vardinoyannis will join the picturesque Church of Agios Nikolaos Ragava on Friday (7.2.2025) CORVERSE It is a church of the late Byzantine period and dates back to the second half of the 11th century AD as it has similar architectural and decorative characteristics to other temples of this period, such as the Holy Apostles and the Temple of Sotiras Lykodemos. It was built by the large Byzantine family Ragava and originally operated as a private temple. There is also the view that it is of the 9th century AD and that it was constructed on the ruins of an ancient temple, by the son of Emperor Michael I Ragava, Theophilacto. In 1687 AD, during the siege of Athens by Francesco Morosini’s troops, as part of the Sixth Venetian War, a shell caused damage to the sacred step of the temple. CORVERSE In 1833 there were maintenance and expansion work at the temple that greatly altered his personality. He regained his original form in 1979-80 after works by the Archaeological Service, with the removal of mortars, revealing the original dome and the original masonry on the north side. The roof was also restored and the static problems were corrected. The church of St. Nicholas Ragava in its original form was about half in size from today. It was built based on the architectural type of the dome-registered cruciform and had a vaulted crossbow narthex with a bell tower, demolished. Ancient materials (e.g. cionocrana) have been used in the construction of the temple while the brick wall was followed. Two serrated strips run the northern wall of the temple, surrounding the openings. The lower film is in its horizontal section is double and triple. The dome is an octagonal, Athenian type, with columns on the edges and eight monolobe windows, one on each side. The columns are joined with arched touchers that touch their tops. Two of the original capitals are preserved inside the temple, which are a variation of the Corinthian rhythm. During the maintenance and expansion work, in 1833, the narthex, the bell tower, the southern chapel of Agia Paraskevi and the gynaeconite of today’s temple were added. The masonry was covered with plaster and the lead leaf dome. The present wooden iconostasis was then constructed, further west than the original, resulting in the two eastern columns of the temple being inside the sanctuary, while two other columns were placed alongside the previous. During work in the late 1970s, it was found in a dome cionisco, the following inscribed epileptic inscription: K (YRI) O HELPED BY DUL(S) LEO The original hagiographies of the temple are not preserved. The existing ones were made during Otto’s reign and are a neoclassical style.
Agios Nikolaos Ragava: The history of the picturesque church in Plaka
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in Greece