Lina Mendoni: Saint Theodore marks centuries of history and culture

With a great splendor his thukes were performed Church of the Holy Theodore In the center of Athens, in the presence of the Minister of Culture, Lina Mendoni.

The Holy Temple of Saint Theodore was restored by a comprehensive plan of fastening and maintenance by the Ministry of Culture, through the Ephorate of Antiquities of Athens, in the framework of the Attica Regional Operational Program 2014-2020. During the work, the original characteristics of the monument, the sculpture decoration and the ceramics were revealed and highlighted. Inside the temple, maintenance work brought to light the brilliant form of the temple, as it was formed in the late 19th century.

The Minister of Culture, Lina Mendoni, pointed out, “The Church of Saints Theodore was built in 1049 and is an iconic 11th century monument. The built -in inscription, on its west side, is one of the special features of the temple, as in addition to the date, it also gives us the name of the property, Spatharokandatou Nikolaos Kalomalos, who belonged to the middle scale of the administrative and military hierarchy of the Byzantine Empire. The completion of the Temple gives the public the opportunity to get to know this excellent monument closely, to enjoy the work of the artificers and artists of the 11th and 19th century, to learn and understand the major themes of the Byzantine architecture and the 19th century, to Athenian life of the 19th, 20th and 21st century. The Saints Theodore, a great Byzantine monument, ecclesiastical and Christian, marking centuries of history and culture, are attributed today to faithful and visitors. “

The Minister highlighted the very close and constructive cooperation of the Ministry of Culture with the Holy Archdiocese of Athens and the Metropolises, noting that “It is our deep desire for ecclesiastical monuments to be re -attributed to worship, as they have been their essential use from the outset. With proper respect, we ensure that restored monuments will maintain their light and shine, not as an end in itself, but because, through them, we too. Athens has a special place in culture, over time in the long historical duration, so its monuments should be restored and shiny as it deserves in the city’s physiognomy. “

The completion of the painful work of the rehabilitation demanded the close cooperation of many specialties, the coordination of numerous workshops and the treatment of a variety of problems, the mediation of the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as repeated violations of the construction site, which in one case caused a fire.

For almost a thousand years that the temple had gone through and despite its efforts, since the mid -19th century – when the bell tower was built – and mainly in the early 20th century, they had caused many problems in the building. A passage crack burned the west wall, from roof to base. Most of the monument’s domes were crazy. The tiles were almost disintegrated and the base mortars had been replaced with cement, while the 20th century. He had left the monument’s masonry, inside and outside, a black tobacco and exhaust. These problems and many more were healed during the project. The metal reinforcements, most of them hiding under the roofs, offer the building the static adequacy of securing it in the future. The roofs were replaced, as were the lost marble elements of the dome. New joints were applied, similar to the very well -preserved initial joints of the Temple. On the sides, the building blocks, stones and bricks were restored, which were missing and mainly cleaned by the soot, in a painful and time -consuming process. The sculpture decoration was cleaned, the inscription descended from its position, maintained and replaced. Copies of the original clay vessels have been placed, as they are particularly vulnerable, in their initial positions west and north. Inside was removed the plastic coating that covered the marble floor, while the cleaning and maintenance of the frescoes and the marble Byzantine elements of both the Byzantines, such as the narthex jewelry, and the windscreen, as well as the windows of the windows, as well as the windows of the windows, century, combining it with the modern place of worship.

At the Ceremony of the Archimandrite of the Holy Archdiocese of Athens Varnava Theocharis, the Church of the Holy Archdiocese of Athens, the Secretary General of Culture George Teachou, the Director of the Ephorate of Antiquities of the City The Division of Byzantine and Post -Byzantine Antiquities and Museums of Argyro Karaberides, as well as representatives of the Attica Region and the Municipality of Athens.