Metropolitan church of Panagia Spilaeotissa, Eastern Orthodox metropolitan church in Corfu, Greece.
The Metropolitan Church of Panagia Spilaeotissa is a basilica in Corfu Town, built in 1577 on the site of an older church of Saint Blaise and given a dark pink facade in the Renaissance style. Marble steps lead up to the entrance from Plateia Spilia, near the New Fortress. Inside, the nave was widened in 1841, and the church keeps old Byzantine icons, the oldest being the two-sided Panagia Dimosiana from the late 14th to early 15th century.
Built in 1577 on the site of an older church of Saint Blaise of Sebaste, the church was reworked in the Baroque style in the 18th century. Its nave was widened considerably in 1841, the year it became the cathedral of the Metropolis of Corfu. The name changed during the period of British rule over the island.
The name means "of the Cave", after the icon of the Virgin kept here; the church is also dedicated to Saint Blaise and to Blessed Theodora, wife of the iconoclast emperor Theophilus. On the first Sunday of Lent a procession honours Theodora, and on 11 February pieces of watermelon are handed out recalling Blaise's healing of the island's children.
The church sits in Corfu's old town and is easy to reach on foot; entry is available to visitors during certain hours. Appropriate dress is expected, and it matters to respect the services and prayers that believers are conducting.
Inside, a two-sided icon of Panagia Dimosiana, painted between the late 14th and early 15th century, is the oldest of the church's Byzantine icons. Works by painters such as Michael Damaskinos and Emmanouil Tzanes are also kept here, alongside a silver sarcophagus holding the relics of Blessed Theodora.
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