Holy Church of Saint Nicholas
Entering Velventos, near Fiskina, the post-Byzantine church of Saint Nicholas invites you to make a brief stop, revealing yet another facet of the settlement’s historical course. According to the founder’s inscription preserved to the right of the western entrance door, the church was rebuilt from scratch, and frescoed in 1588. On the inside, the oldest known dated iconostasis in Greece, a piece of work dating to 1591, is preserved with gilded vegetal decoration and a pierced technique, bearing witness to the high art and craftsmanship of the time. Until the end of the 19th century, Saint Nicholas functioned as a parish church with a monastic character, while the form it had during Ottoman rule was maintained until 1936. The complex included the main church, the enclosed frescoed narthex —which also functioned as an “healing establishment” for the mentally ill at a time— the hayati on the southern side, the cells, the cemetery and a high enclosure wall. Interventions that followed until the 1960s gradually altered the original monastic church’s character. Today, the single-aisled main church, the hayati and a modern covered space on the western side for the protection of the frescoes are preserved. Saint Nicholas thus continues to narrate its stories through the centuries, inviting every visitor to discover one of the most important monuments of Velventos.
