Church of Agios Andreas

At the south seaside area of Patras, near the place where Apostle Andrew died, there are two churches dedicated to the patron saint of the city.

The more recent one is one of the largest one in the Balkans and today is the cathedral church of Patras and the symbol of the city.

The old church was built initially in the end of the 5th century over the ruins of an ancient temple of Artemis and belongs to the type of the basilica. It was an important pilgrimage and suffered a lot of destructions through the centuries, with the last one being its torching by the Turco-Albanians in 1770.

He remained in ruins until the erection of the present day church, which started in 1836 according to plans by the famous architect Lysandros Kaftantzoglou. Its inauguration took place in 1843 and in the period 1845-1856 it was the Metropolitan church of the city.

Architecturally it belongs to the type of three-aisled basilica and its interior is decorated by excellent wall paintings and icons of Ionian Islands style, works of well-known artists. At the southern aisle is the tomb of Saint Andrew, coated with marble, while next to the church, at an underground vaulted cave, there is a water spring, which is considered holy water.

Left of the old church there is the impressive new church, which was of Byzantine order. It was founded in 1908 by King George I and was inaugurated in 1974, since its construction took place with interruptions, due to the instability of the ground and financial problems.

Its dome is 46 meters high while at its roof there is a gold-plated cross five meters high, while smaller crosses are over the domes of the twelve bell towers.

Its interior has an area of 2,500m² and its capacity exceeds 8,000 people. The creation of the icons started in 1985, was interrupted in 1993 and continued in 2006. At the church they keep the skull of saint Andrew, which was given to Patras from Italy in 1964, as well as part from the cross where he died.

The church celebrates on the 30th of November and the nearest Sunday to the 26th of September (anniversary of the return of the holy skull).