Metropolitan Cathedral of Agios Charalampos

The Metropolitan Cathedral of Agios Charalampos, at the centre of the historic city and next to the Clock Tower, where an older temple used to stand, is a building of the 18th century. The amazing icons of the iconostasis (1793, 1804), the saints’ paintings – influenced by the Venetian painting – and the wood carved gold-plated iconostasis (1828) are of great interest.

It is built according to the architecture of single-ended domed basilica, on the eastern side of which it has been inbuilt a part of the roman sarcophagus. On the east southern part of the church, there is an earlier tower shaped belfry that has been incorporated. Repetitive interventions have altered the monument’s image. The painting scenery of the church is consisted of big oil paintings that cover the lateral walls and the wooden roof. It is about replicas of works of art of religious painting, of great European artists. The wood carved iconostasis, the pulpit on a Corinthian column and the Bishop’s throne are also of great interest. On the iconostasis there are icons of the 18th century, typical examples of the artistic movement of the Heptanese School of painting.