Church of Agia Fotini

At an idyllic landscape in the city, at the only place still remaining from the valley of the river Illissos, is the church of Agia Fotini. It has been erected exactly next to the riverbed, which nowadays is still visible but without water, next to the bustling Kallirois street.

The location was related to worship already from the antiquity, since here was a temple of Hecate. During the Turkish occupation a Christian church stood here, which must have been largely destroyed in the revolution in 1821, while in the 1830s the cemetery of the Bavarian soldiers was in this area. The church of Agia Fotini was reconstructed in 1872 and a little later became a parish church. During the 1980s it suffered damages from a small landside and it was renovated by the Ministry of Culture, while all the expenses were covered by the Municipality of Athens.

It belongs to the type of simple basilica with timber saddleback roof. Before its renovation in the 1980s it had a different form, because its stone walls had been covered by whitewash so they can be preserved. In its interior there are murals dating from the 18th and the 19th century, while additional decorative works were carried out in the period 1986-1992. The wooden-carved screen of the church was made in 1986 and is a replica of the screen of the church of Agios Nektarios in Aegina. From the older decoration of the church the portable icons of Agia Fotini, Agios Eleftherios and Archangel Michael stand out.

The church is dedicated to Agia Fotini the Samaritan and celebrates on February 26th and on the Sunday of the Samaritan Woman.

​Thanks to their particularly idyllic location, a lot of young couples choose to marry at the church of Agia Fotini.