Church of Evangelistria (Panagia tis Tinou)

On the southern edges of the castle of ancient Tinos, at the centre of the modern city, is the magnificent church of Panagia Evangelistria (Virgin Mary the Bringer of Good News), the famous church of Tinos, the most important pilgrimage in the Aegean and one of the most famous in all of Greece.

As the founding inscription that survives over the central entrance informs us, the church of the Virgin Mary started to being built in 1823, at the location where they discovered the miraculous icon of the Evangelismos of Theotokos (Annunciation of the Virgin Mary), on the 30th of January of the same year, after a vision by the nun Pelagia. The discovery of the icons was related to the liberation of Greece and caused great joy and optimism, to such an extent that the plague, the disease that tormented the island, started to decline. Sometime later the church of the Zoodoxhos Pigi (Life Giving Source) had started already to being built, the present day “lower church”, with the three arches. Its construction was completed in 1823, just before finding the icon and during its foundation they had carried out excavations and they located ancient ruins, which influenced its construction. At the gallery where the icon was found today there is a sacred spring.

The church of the Virgin Mary has been built over the church of Evreseos, according to the plans of the architect Efstratios Kalonaris from Tinos and since 1962 it is a preservable monument. This is a three-aisled basilica with three prominent semi-circular apses on the east and a dome over the bema. The present day façade with intense neo-classical elements is a later addition and was reconstructed in the period 1890-1892 according to plans by the French architect Trump. The present day bell tower was constructed in 1958 by the sculptor Giannis Filippotis under the supervision of the architect Anastasios Orlandos. The impressive screen at the church’s interior dates from 1825 and is the work of Fragiskos Kanahilis. On the west of the large church there is the church of Timios Prodromos (John the Baptist), while the auxiliary areas house the library, the sacristy with important relics and works related to the history of the church, and the museum with works of artists from Tinos.    

The church celebrates on the 30th of January (day the icon was discovered), the 25th of March (the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary), the 23rd of July (the vision of Agia Pelagia) and the 15th of August (Dormition of the Virgin Mary), with the most glorious celebration of this day all over the Aegean.