KASTELLORIZO TRAVEL GUIDE

KASTELORIZO > CHURCHES & MONASTERIES

CHURCHES & MONASTERIES

The Church of Saints Constantine and Helena

The Church of Saints Constantine and Helena was built in 1835. This is the cathedral of Kastelorizo, an edifice evidently inspired by gothic tradition. Tradition has it that on this very site St. Helena herself had had a previous smaller church built after she was saved from a formidable tempest on her way to the Holy Land in quest of the Cross.

What is certain is that the foundations of the actual constructions are laid into the site of an early Christian basilica. Its roof has been made to rest on twelve monolithic granite pillars carried all the way to Kastelorizo from the temple of Apollo at Patara (Lycia, in Asia Minor), on rafts. Meanwhile, what once was the temple of Apollo at Patara has been converted into a Christian church dedicated to St. Nicholas. This is where on that saint's day, many Greeks originating from Asia Minor and other places around the world converge to attend a mass officiated by the very Patriarch of Constantinople in person.

The Church of St. John

The Church of St. George-of-the-Mount (Aghios Gheorghios tou Vounou) is 1 hour's walk. Visitors are expected to climb up the 401 whitewashed steps leading from the fields up to a plain. A beaten path then brings them to the fortified monastery of St. George, typical for the paved terrace that surrounds it. The name, St. George-on-the-Mount, was chosen to differentiate it from other churches dedicated to the same Saint yet lying "in the Fields" or "at the Wells" (on the coast). Behind the walls of the Monastery, worth visiting are the catacombs of St. Charalambus. The monastery was built to a plan by Mastroyiogis, a local architect, and was renovated in 1779.