The church of St. Nicholas Ragawa is a temple of the late Byzantine period. It is located northeast of the Acropolis , just below Anafiotika.
History of the Temple
The church of St. Nicholas Ragawa dates back to the 11th century AD. century as it has similar architectural and decorative features to other temples of this period, such as the Holy Apostles and the Church of Sotira Lykopimou. It was built by the great Byzantine family Ragawa and originally functioned as a private temple. There is, however, the view that it is of the 9th century AD. and that it was built on the ruins of an ancient temple, by the son of Emperor Michael I Ragawa, Theophylato.
In 1687 AD, during the siege of Athens by the troops of Francesco Morozini, in the context of the Sixth Venetian War, an oyster caused damage to the Temple of the Temple.
In 1833, the church underwent maintenance and extension work that greatly altered its physiognomy. He restored to a significant extent his original form in 1979 -80 after the work of the Archaeological Service.
Description of the temple
The church of St. Nicholas Ragawa in its original form was about half the size of today.
It was built on the basis of the architectural type of the cruciform engraved with a dome and had a shrouded bell tower with a bell tower, which was demolished. In the construction of the temple, ancient materials (eg capitals) have been used, while the masonry was followed by the brick-type mold.
During the maintenance and expansion work, in 1833, the narthex, the bell tower, the northern chapel of Agia Paraskevi and the women's monastery of the present temple were added. The masonry was covered with plaster and the dome with lead sheets. At that time, the wooden iconostasis was built further west of the original, resulting in the two eastern columns of the temple being in the sanctuary, while two other columns were placed next to the previous ones. During the work in the late 1970s, the following engraved inscription was found in a cupola of the dome: K (YPI) E NOOH OF THE WORLD (N) TANKANA .
The original hagiographies of the temple are not saved. The existing ones were made during Otto's reign and are of Western style.
Taken and translated from: Date of recovery: May 22, 2018 19:55 UTC
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