Church of Agioi Anargyroi (Metochi of the Holy Sepulcher)

On the northern foothills of the Acropolis, at the intersection of Erechtheos and Prytaneion streets, is the church of Agioi Anargyroi, more known as the Metochi of the Holy Sepulcher. With its picturesque courtyard and the nearby simple neoclassical building, the seat of the Exarchia of the Holy Sepulcher, is one of the most beautiful spots in Plaka, which is closely related to the celebration of the Resurrection of Christ, since here is the first place that the Holy Light arrives each year from Jerusalem.

The church was constructed in the 17th century at a location where in antiquity was a temple of the goddess Aphrodite. It constituted the catholicon of a monastery which was founded in 1651 by the priest Dimitrios Kolokinthis, a descendant of a well-known Athenian family, who owned that piece of land. As a matter of fact, a document mentions that he gave all his fortune to the monastery. First it was a women’s monastery and then it turned into a men’s. When the Acropolis was besieged by the Italian admiral Mososini took place in 1687, the monastery was abandoned. In 1760 it was bought by the Exarch of the Holy Sepulcher in Athens Archimandrite Iakovos and became a Metochi of the Holy Sepulcher. Since that time, its cells have been the residence of the exarch, until 1858, when the seat of the exarchate of the Holy Sepulcher was constructed. At the area of the monastery there were also the tombs of the Greek imperial Palaiologos family.

The church is a one aisled vaulted basilica with a porch and a gynaeconitis at the gallery. On the northern side of the roof is the steeple, erected at a later date, of white marble with intense classicist elements. Ancient architectural members have been used in the building of its walls, while several relics of this area are at its yard, testimony to its long history.

Also preserved is a series of the cells of the old monastery, a well, and one of the old municipal gas lamps which lightened the streets of the city.

A unique experience is the Epitaph procession on Good Friday with the unique devout atmosphere in the alleys of Plaka.