Greece - Mystras, Hodegetria church

The Hodegetria church was founded by abbot Pachomios of the Brontochion Monastery in Mystras ( www.ipernity.com/doc/294067/49139868 ). It was built between 1310 and 1315 as the katholikon (main church). The monastery acquired many resources in the area of Sparta and elsewhere in the Peloponnese and was so wealthy that the new church was referred by the local people as the Aphentiko (“head man” or “boss”).

A new architectural type, the so-called “Mystras mixed type”, was created for the first time in this church. Its ground floor takes the form of a three-aisled basilica, while at the gallery level it has features of the more complex five domed cross-square church. The church also has a fine bell tower. Beautiful frescoes, comparable to frescoes in Constantinople, decorate the church.

A Hodegetria or Virgin Hodegetria, is an iconographic depiction of Virgin Mary, holding the Child Jesus at her side while pointing to Him as the source of salvation for humankind. In the Western Church this type of icon is sometimes called “Our Lady of the Way”.

Hodegetria church is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Mystras.