Agia Marina Church: An Underground Byzantine Church in Athens
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.6
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Greece
- Primary era
- Medieval
- Eras represented
- Medieval
- Civilizations
- Byzantine
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Church
History
Agia Marina church is a Christian church in Athens, Greece, built at the beginning of the thirteenth century and dedicated to Saint Marina, a Christian martyr venerated as a saint, especially in Eastern Christianity. Located in the Thissio district, the underground church was later incorporated into a larger church dedicated to the same saint.
The earlier structure lies within the southern part of the present building. Restoration work revealed frescoes that had been concealed over time. Most belong to the Late Byzantine period, the final phase of the Byzantine Empire before its political collapse in the fifteenth century, while a smaller group dates from the thirteenth century. Agia Marina church is identified in Greece as both an archaeological site and a protected building.
Remains
The surviving earlier church is an underground structure set inside a cave excavated into the Hill of the Nymphs. Its dome rises high enough to be visible from outside the cave, while the interior remains within the later church complex. The structure currently functions as a baptistery, a place used for the Christian rite of baptism.
Restoration has left the interior with exposed frescoes from both the Late Byzantine period and the thirteenth century. These paintings form part of the surviving fabric of the underground church and connect its present appearance with the successive phases of its religious use.
