PANAGHIA KAPNIKAREA
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Chapel of exceptional archaeological, architectural and cultural value.
Located almost in the middle of the pedestrian part of Ermou Street, the most commercially important street in Athens, the Byzantine Chapel of Panaghia Kapnikarea is often overlooked during a visit. However, it is a treasure of Byzantine art which, keeping its original character, still offers a place suitable for those who wish to have a moment of meditation or to discover in the heart of Athens a vestige of exceptional archaeological, architectural and cultural value. Dedicated to the Presentation of the Virgin, the chapel owes its attribute "Kapnikarea" most probably to its founder who, as kapnikarios, received the kapnikon, i.e. taxes on the chimney (in Greek the term kapnos means smoke). This was a real estate tax on every residential or other building with a chimney, a proof of a certain luxury, as it allowed for proper heating and cooking.
Panaghia Kapnikarea is a multi-faceted building, consisting of three parts. The main church is in the southern part, dedicated to the Presentation of the Virgin Mary, which would have been a monastery in its early days. The small chapel dedicated to Aghia Varvara is built in the northern part and the ex-voto is on the western side. Inside, one can admire the mosaic dating from 1936 representing the Virgin and the illustrations of the most famous Greek hagiographer, Fotis Kontoglou, to whom important restoration works and new iconography are also owed.
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