Church of Agios Dimitrios, Thessaloniki, Greece
Church of St. Demetrius was built in the 5th century (413), on the site of the martyrdom of the saint, the prefect of Illyricum Leontio, who was cured of incurable disease. At this place was the “stage” where were monomachikoi matches. At this stage Fight faithful disciple of St. Demetrius, Nestor, and defeated the Lyaio. The entire ground floor of the ancient bath complex, where he was imprisoned St., maintained and re-arranged in the crypt, which was for centuries and remains a center of worship.
The architectural style of the temple is a five-aisled basilica with a transverse (vertical) aisle, twin palate (loft) and long double kionostoicheies. Over time was twice destroyed, in large part, by fire in the 7th century (between 629 and 639) and on 5 and 6 August 1917. It also suffered much destruction and looting during the capture of Thessaloniki by the Saracens in 904 and by the Normans in 1118. the period from 1493 to 1912 turned into glass by the Turks.
The great fire of 1917 changed almost ruins the historic church and the restoration work that the restored in its original form lasted until 1948. Since then operates normally and as an art monument one of the most wonderful Christian monuments of the Greek East.
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