Naos Agiou Stefanou

Naos Agiou Stefanou (Ναός Αγίου Στεφάνου)
	; Northwest side of the church
Data
place	Kamari , Santorini
Construction year	8/9 century
Coordinates	36 ° 22 '1 " N , 25 ° 28' 33.3" E Coordinates: 36 ° 22 '1 " N , 25 ° 28' 33.3" E

Naos Agiou Stefanou ( Greek Ναός Αγίου Στεφάνου , Church of St. Stephen ') is a chapel on the Greek Cycladic island of Santorini (Thira). It is located on the up to 366 meter high Mesa Vouno south of Kamari near the ancient city of Alt-Thera . The small building with two barrel vaults is dedicated to Saint Stephen ( Άγιος Στέφανος Agios Stefanos ) and Saint Theodoros ( Άγιος Θεόδωρος Agios Theodoros ).

location

Naos Agiou Stefanou is located about 400 meters southwest of Kamari ( Καμάρι ) and 800 meters north of Perissa ( Περίσσα ) on the east coast of Santorini. The chapel stands below the summit of Mesa Vouno ( Μέσα Βουνό ) at about 280 meters above sea level . From Kamari a serpentine road leads to the Sellada ( Σελλάδα ), a pass between Mesa Vouno and Profitis Ilias ( Προφήτης Ηλίας ), the highest mountain on the island at 567 meters. A hiking trail descends from there to Perissa. The chapel can be reached from the Sellada on a 220 meter long ascent in a south-easterly direction.

description

Remains of the early Christian basilica

Naos Agiou Stefanou was built on the foundations of an early Christian basilica , which probably came from the middle of the 6th century. It had three naves , a double narthex to the northwest and an apse to the southeast of the central nave . The basilica dedicated to the Archangel Michael was about 22.3 meters long and 11.2 meters wide. In addition, it had a 2.7 meter wide, elongated extension in the northeast, which was also provided with an apse in the southeast. The main axis of the basilica was to the side of the apse of the nave on the location of the 1034 km distant Jerusalem aligned, that is, on the supposed " Heavenly Jerusalem " faces east .

After the basilica was destroyed, possibly by an earthquake or the small eruption of the Santorini volcano in 726, which Theophanes reported, today's much smaller chapel was built in the 8th or 9th century. It is about 7.9 meters long and 5.6 meters wide and stands in the rear area of the former central nave of the basilica. For the construction of the chapel, spoils of architectural parts from Old Thera were used, but above all from the previous building. Naos Agiou Stefanou owns two ships with barrel vaults sealed with cement. The foundations of the chapel are antique blocks on which a brickwork made of red and light lava stone was placed. The stone floor in the interior and the four pillars that separate the two areas for the veneration of Saint Stephen in the southwest and Saint Theodoros in the northeast also date from an earlier period. While the entrance to the double chapel is through a wooden door on the side of the venerable room of St. Stephen, both areas have their own small apse in the southeast. On the roof above the apses, an antique column stump protrudes upwards. Finally, a former cistern should be mentioned, which is located on the outside in the southwest of the chapel.

Views of the chapel with the outside area