Description

A huge fortified building, since the 11th century, St. Spyridon’s Monastery was mainly known as “the Monastery of Draco”, since-during the years of the Venetian Occupation - the Port of Piraeus was called Porto Leone (the port of the lion) and “Porto Draco” (the port of the Dragon), due to the gigantic Piraeus Lion decorating the port until 1687. A “castle monastery”, St. Spyridon’s Monastery resisted pirate attacks and was the protector of the port.

In recognition of the contribution of St. Spyridon’s Monastery to the city of Piraeus, it was decided that Saint Spyridon would be the patron saint of Piraeus. In 1835, the first mayor of Piraeus, decides the erection of a church dedicated to Saint Spyridon.

The first church proved to be small and inadequate, and a second church was built, the one we see today. St. Spyridon church was originally designed by the prominent Greek architect Stamatios Cleanthis. Cleanthis, following the standards of neoclassicism, visualized an immense church covering a space of 400 m. sq. with a capacity of 1,000 people plus the women’s quarters. However his designs were reviewed and modified to a lower scale by the German architect Eduard Schaubert.

St. Spyridon’s Church is a basilica with transept and an octagonal dome. The iconography, containing examples of the 19th century painting belonging to the Nazarene movement, is of unique beauty while St. Spyridon’s Church has been designated by the Greek Ministry of Culture as a monument.

After Athens had become the capital of the newly formed Greek State (1832), Andreas Miaoulis, one of the greatest figures of the Greek Revolution, decided to have a house built on the Piraeus Peninsula. The ideal location – being the only one free of marshes, which were abundant in the area at the time – was on the premises of the former St. Spyridon Monastery, destroyed some years ago.

The contractors involved in the construction refused to continue working on the site claiming that a monk kept coming to their dreams asking them: “why are you destroying my house?” Miaoulis had to carry on the construction by himself. Not long before the house was finished, other residents of Piraeus had dreams with the same monk telling them that “the owner of the house will never move in”. On June 11, 1835, Miaoulis died. He had never set foot in the house.

Source: http://piraeusland.com/saint-spiridon-church/