Church of Koimisis Theotokou Kalambakas, Eastern Orthodox church in Kalambaka, Greece
The Church of Koimisis Theotokou Kalambakas is an Eastern Orthodox basilica with three aisles in the town of Kalambaka, Greece, with a central nave that rises higher than the side aisles. A narthex was added on the western end in the 16th century, and a tall bell tower stands on the northern side of the building.
The church was built in the 10th or early 11th century on the remains of an older early Christian basilica, whose foundations still shape the current building. It was significantly altered and expanded in the 16th and 19th centuries.
The church takes its name from the Koimisis (Dormition) of the Theotokos, the feast of the Virgin Mary's death and burial, kept on 15 August in the Orthodox calendar. Kalambaka's residents gather here for the liturgy on that day and on other major feasts, and the 1336 chrysobull of Andronikos III kept in the narthex records the church's lands and the borders of the Bishopric of Stagi.
The church sits in the center of Kalambaka and is easy to reach on foot from the town's main streets or from the starting points for the Meteora monasteries. Visitors should cover their shoulders and knees, as the building is an active place of worship.
The marble pulpit standing in the nave, before the Holy Gate, was put together from pieces of an earlier early Christian church on the site. On the north wall of the narthex a chrysobull of 1336 issued by Emperor Andronikos III is preserved, confirming the church's land rights and the borders of the Bishopric of Stagi.
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