Church of Agios Germanos

At the centre of the village of Agios Germanos in Prespes is one of the oldest monuments in the area, the Byzantine church with the same name, which is dedicated to the memory of Agios Germanos, Patriarch of Constantinople in the period 715-730.

The church dates from the beginning of the 11th century, the period in which the emperor Basil II the Bulgarian-Slayer re-captured the area. If functioned continuously for many centuries and there were many reconstructions and renovations. Under its floor burials have been discovered, perhaps from people of the church who were related to the church during the last centuries of the Turkish occupation. At a rather later age, in 1882, they annexed at its western wall the large three-aisled basilica, which was also dedicated to Agios Germanos.

Architecturally, the Byzantine church belongs to the transitional cross-in-square type with three semi-circular apses on the east and a narthex on the west. The cylindrical dome is supported internally in four pillars. Its masonry is formed by series of stones that are alternate with series of bricks, while at the joints are ceramic letters, a characteristic that can also be seen at the churches of Kastoria. Its interior is decorated with wall paintings, which date from three different periods of time. From the older ones, of the 11th century, only very few fragments survive at the bema. The portrait of Agios Germanos, overt the southern gate, dates from the end of the 12th or the beginning of the 13th century. The more recent wall paintings are from 1743, when the whole church was richly decorated with icons.