Holy Church of the Virgin Mary Pantanassa - Monastiraki

The Church of the Virgin Mary Pantanassa sits low against the pavement, its roofline capped by a red-tiled dome that seems to sink into the surrounding modern storefronts. This church served as the main chapel for a nunnery that once occupied the entire block. In the seventeenth century, the nunnery housed the daughters of prominent Athenian families. During the Greek War of Independence, Ottoman soldiers turned the site into a warehouse for weapons, and shells fired by the Venetians damaged the structure.