The Church of Hagios Nicholaos

The church of Hagios Nicholaos (see plate 25) is a typical example of the Italo Byzantine style. From outside we can clearly see that the ground plan is in the shape of a Latin cross. The nave and transept have large barrel vaults which emphasize the cruciform shape of the structure. The aisles give the interior of the church an elongated appearance. Western influences on the structure are evident not only in the ground plan, but also in the Renaissance style ornamentation.

Andreas Likinios had the church built in 1703. He was the scion of a well known native family, which fled to Corfu after the first Venetian defeat in Monemvasia. The charter of the church, carved in marble, is located in the triangle over the entrance door, below a marble bas relief of the Byzantine double headed eagle. A facing, made of porus with a Venetian style molding, surrounds the entrance door and the triangle with the eagle and the charter. The barrel vaults and the flat roofs over the aisles have no roof tiles. An hemispherical cupola sits atop an impressive drum which rises up over the crossing. Windows decorated the drum, but today they are bricked up. The drum and the cupola are of equal height, and are made up of solid layers of hewn stone, typical of the Italo Byzantine style. The nave and the aisles end in apses; the semicircular ground plan of these is evident from outside, though the side apses are rather insignificant. All three apses have handsome Venetian moldings. The arches which separate the nave from the aisles are pointed, and rest on pillars. For lighting purposes windows were added in the south wall during the nineteenth century, for at that time the church was used as a school.

Nowadays the church is empty; regular church services are not held here. Unfortunately the interior of the church is in bad condition.