Saints Anargyroi – Among the city’s oldest churches
Near the old Apozari quarter stands one of the city’s oldest churches, the Church of Saints Anargyroi. It is a three-aisled basilica with a narthex, whose central aisle rises so high that it gives the impression of a rectangular dome, lending the building a distinctive architectural balance. You will be struck by its unusual exterior decoration, which, in addition to the customary ceramic and stone elements, also includes marble ornaments, forming a unique ensemble for its time. Inside the church, the earliest wall paintings (11th century) survive fragmentarily, mainly in the narthex, while later ones (12th century) cover the main nave. The vitality and expressiveness of these figures will surprise you—they clearly reflect the new artistic spirit that was beginning to blow through Byzantine art at the time.
