Kapnikarea

The church of Panagia Kapnikarea sits directly in the middle of Ermou Street, a stone-built structure with a low, rounded dome that forces the modern shopping crowds to split around it. It dates to the eleventh century, when it served as the heart of a small Byzantine neighborhood. In eighteen thirty-four, city planners intended to demolish the building to clear a path for the new thoroughfare, but King Ludwig of Bavaria intervened to save it, insisting on its preservation for the sake of history.