The new temple, unfinished for a long time, began to function in 1900 and was officially inaugurated in 1935
With almost 2.5 million euros, the services of the Ministry of Culture are carrying out a project that is both difficult and necessary, since it concerns the temple – monument of Holy healerwhich has been the trademark of Mytilene for about 130 years now.
The conservation program for the stone facades of the monument and the elaborate artworks on the gables on the upper parts of the facades is currently being implemented. These works with a budget of 800,000 euros are implemented by Ephorate of Antiquities of Lesvos. At the same time and specifically a few days ago with a decision signed by the Deputy Minister of Finance Theodoros Skylakakis financed by the Recovery and Resilience Fund of the European Union, the complete repair of the domes of Agios Therapondas. Of the 1.45 million euros, an amount of 600,000 has been entered in this year’s appropriations. These works will be carried out on the dome covered with zinc plates and on the four corresponding corner domes as well as on the characteristic relief decoration, which combines late Gothic, neoclassical and baroque elements.
The work on the stone facades of the Temple is carried out at a great height and requires specialized personnel. They have already started on the northern face and include the removal of the mortars with which the monument was maintained about 30 years ago. “These are difficult works that will take about two years,” the maintenance manager of the Ephorate of Antiquities told APE-MPE Despina Pitsiu.
“We were told that after years the maintenance work we carried out in the 1980s would have to be done again. Their time has come” said the archpriest of the Church Fr. Athanasios Yousmas, while referring to the work on the roof that was financed a few days ago he characterized it as “a necessary project to save, if nothing else, the water that enters the Church in the winter”.
The construction of the current church began at the end of the 19th century on the site of an earlier chapel that served the needs of patients of the “hotel”, a charitable building in the form of a poorhouse and hospital operated there by the Mytilene Diocese.
The operation of this “hotel”, the forerunner of today’s Charity shops of Lesvos, is lost in the depths of time and the oldest historical evidence for it dates back to 1692. Most scholars believe that the naidrium would have existed at least from this time period. The chapel is characterized by the sources of the time as a “mercy building” but from excavations carried out on adjacent plots it appears that both the current church and surrounding buildings were built on top of an important ancient public building which cannot be ruled out to be the temple of Asklepios.
The construction of the new church as proof of the rebirth of the Greek Orthodox Community of Mytilene in the conditions of the Ottoman Empire was envisioned by the Metropolitan of Mytilene Kallinikos, later Patriarch of Alexandria. On his initiative, fundraisers were carried out for the construction of the temple.
The planned dimensions of the temple required at that time the work of a great architect. Lesvius Argyris Adalis was chosen, assistant to the two greatest architects of the time, the Danish Theophilos Hansen and the German Ernestos Ziller. His experience during the construction of the Academy and Zappeion buildings in Athens proved to be valuable. Experience that allowed him to draw up both the plan of Agios Theraponts and the neighboring historic Gymnasium of Mytilene. The result is still impressive today. The obvious Gothic elements contribute to its imposingness and give it a distinct style unique to Greece.
The new temple, unfinished for a long time, began to function in 1900 and was officially inaugurated in 1935.
Its basic architectural style, according to data from the Ministry of Culture, is inscribed cruciform with a dome. Externally, it is distinguished by its Gothic morphological characteristics, the presence of which is due to the influence on Adalis by his teachers. The exterior decoration was created by the famous painter and sculptor Nikolaos Kesanlis. The wood-carved iconostasis of the church, a work of 1915, was created by the Mytilene woodcarver Dimitrios Kovalas.
It is built with hewn stones – red volcanic ignimbrite – most of which were transported from the Sarmusak quarry on the opposite coast of Asia Minor.
On the facade there are two superimposed rows of marble columns, Ionic and Corinthian style. While the domes that crown the building give an image of magnificence covered with zinc.
The church hosts the tomb of Ignatius, Metropolitan of Lesbos of Hungarian Wallachia, one of the great protagonists of the Revolution of 1821. His marble sarcophagus is located in the central nave of the church.
The most important relic is the icon of Saint Therapont, dated to the year 1651. It is assumed that it comes from the chapel that served the needs of the “hotel”.
RES-EMP
Read the News today and get the latest news.
Follow Skai.gr on Google News and be the first to know all the news.
I have worked as a journalist for over 10 years, and my work has been featured on many different news websites. I am also an author, and my work has been published in several books. I specialize in opinion writing, and I often write about current events and controversial topics. I am a very well-rounded writer, and I have a lot of experience in different areas of journalism. I am a very hard worker, and I am always willing to put in the extra effort to get the job done.
_130330.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1)
