Church of Agia Paraskevi

At the centre of the old city of Chalcis, amidst modern buildings, emerges one of the most ancient and most important Byzantine monuments of Euboea, the church of Agia Paraskevi, patron saint of the city.

It was constructed in the 5th or 6th century, over the ruins of an ancient temple and was initially dedicated to Panagia Peribleptos. In the 13th century, during the Latin Occupation, it was renovated according to the western standards, while after the city’s occupation by the Turks, in 1470, it was converted into a mosque, and was later used as a storehouse and a depot. After the liberation of the city it functioned again as a church and it was dedicated to Agia Paraskevi. It suffered destructions from the earthquakes in 1854 and 1884, and then its western side and the bell tower collapses, which as restored by the architect Anastasios Orlandos in 1927.

Architecturally the church belongs to the type of three-aisled basilica with an elevated central aisle and a wooden, saddleback-roof. It is large in dimensions and during the Early Christian years he was still larger.

Its present day form is the result of its renovation in the 13th century. Its walls are built with the cloisonné system of masonry and have characteristic Gothic elements, like the cross and the rosette at the façade.

The façade depicts all the architectural stages of the monument: the two columns belong to the initial church, while the cornices and the antefixes are elements of the neoclassical style, which was prevalent in the 19th century, when the western side was rebuilt after its collapse.

The church has two chapels, dedicated to the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary and to Agia Triada, under which they have buried Venetian rulers.

The church celebrates on the 26th of July and a seven-day festival is organized, which had been instituted with a royal decree in 1864.