Church of Agios Panteleimon

At the centre of the city, very near the apse of Galerius and Agios Georgios (Rotunda) is the sacred church of Agios Panteleimon. The name of the church comes from modern years and is due to the chapel of the nearby church of Panagouda At the chapel they transferred the sacred vessels of the church of Agios Panteleimon, when it was converted into a mosque.  

The church is identified with the Byzantine Monastery of Theotokos Peribleptos, which was known as Monastery of Kyr Isaak, by the monk name of its founder, Jacob, Metropolitan of Thessaloniki (1295-1315). The Turks seem to keep the name of its founder (İshakiye Camii), when in 1548 converted the church into a mosque. From the mosque today survives the base of the minaret and the fountain. Like most of the churches in Thessaloniki, it returned into Orthodox hands after the liberation of the city in 1912. The earthquake in 1978 did noy spare this monument, since it suffered significant damages.

Architecturally, the church belongs to the type of complex. Four-columned, cross-in-square church with a dome and follows the architectural tradition of Constantinople. Initially, it possesses a portico on the three sides, part of which are the two chapels on the east.

Eternally the walls are decorated with various brick designs (ceramic decoration), an element that characterizes Byzantine architecture of the Palaeologan period (1261-1453).

From the initial wall paintings, which date from the 13th century, very few still survive at the prothesis, the diaconicon and the at chapels Theotokos Blachernae, saints and priests.

Interesting for the history of the church is the representation of Agios Iakovos Adelfotheos, a saint with the same name with the Metropolitan and founder to the church, at a distinguished location at the diaconicon with devout priests.