Church of Agios Demetrios Loumpardiaris

Agios Demetrios is a beautiful 12th c. small church of the vaulted single-aisle basilica type. The construction of the chapel is probably associated with the final phase of the fortification wall (12th c. A.D.). Inside the church, the frescoes date to 1732 according to the building inscription. According to tradition, the surname "Loumbardiaris" (the Bombardier) is due to the fact that the church was saved by a miracle around 1640-1650, when Yusuf, the then Turkish commander of the Acropolis, bombed the church from the Propylaea of the Acropolis. The following day, lightning struck the Propylaea, killing Yusuf and his entire family. The church has undergone several changes over time. Its current form, complete with open spaces and the Kylikeion aka Peripteron, owe to the restoration of its Post-Byzantine phase by the renowned architect Dimitris Pikionis (1887-1968) in the early 1960s.