Kos Medieval churches

Plaka, church Kos, Dodecanese, Greece ©Clairy Moustafellou/IML Image Group

– Church of the Presentation of Jesus (main church of the Kastrianon Monastery). Saint Christodoulos Latrinos came to Kos from Asia Minor in 1080 and founded the Monastery of Panagia Kastrianon on the hill of Palaio Pyli. Only the main church of the monastery remains intact today. It is a church with a single space, one-brick walls and an arched roof. It was dedicated to the Virgin Mary at first. Now it is dedicated to the Presentation of Jesus. The celebrations of the church are held on February 2 every year. The local parish organizes many festivities honoring the event the day before. Most of the religious paintings of the church date back to the early 16th century.

Church of Panagia Kouvoukliani. It is the church of the parish of Zia (at Asfendi) and it is identified as the main church of the byzantine Monastery of Spondes. It is a cross-in-square church with a narthex and it was built in the 13th century. The religious paintings on the walls of the church were clearly created later.

– Church of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is located south of the Asfendi community at the Kefalovrysi area and used to belong to the Monastery of Spondes. The nearby spring provided water to the settlement of Zia and many of the watermills of the area. Its water was easily digestible and was considered to be holy.

– Church of Agios Dimitrios. It has a single space, an arched roof and a two-storey narthex and is located at the abandoned settlement of Haihoutes. There are marble parts in its walls dating back to the early byzantine period. It was restored in 1842 and the ancillary spaces next to it housed an elementary school.

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