Monuments

The parish church of St. Athanasios of Sykia, in Sithonia, Chalkidiki, is located in the center of the old settlement. It is a three-aisled, timber-roofed basilica with a narthex and a women’s gallery (gynaikonitis). The church is tripartite. Its central nave is dedicated to St. Athanasios of Alexandria and the Holy Trinity, the northern (Prothesis) to St. Nicholas and the southern (Diakonikon) to Saints Anargyroi. Construction work on the church commenced in December 1818 and was completed in 1819, by a team of craftsmen from Zoupani (Pentalofos) of the Voio district in Kozani, as evidenced by the ktetoric inscriptions that adorn the exterior of the church. Two years later, in 1821, part of the church was destroyed by the fire caused by the Ottoman forces in retaliation for the revolutionary movement that broke out in the region of Chalkidiki, where the people of Sykia, led by Captain Stamos Chapsas, were key figures. The church was restored in 1830 with money provided by the inhabitants of the village and with the help of the Athonite monasteries, when the inhabitants returned from the Northern Sporades where they had fled to escape the atrocities of the conquerors.

The church is directly associated with the revolutionary events of 1854 and Tsamis Karatasos. In fact, on April 6, 1854, when Karatasos started the revolution in Macedonia from Sykia, he set fire to the Ottoman garrison inside the church of St. Athanasios where they had barricaded themselves to save their lives. After the suppression of the Revolution, Karatasos sent the necessary funds for the reconstruction of the church in 1861.

The church masonry consists of cut granite stones grouted with lime mortar, between which bricks are occasionally inserted in selected places for decorative reasons. The construction is properly handled with artful grouting on the outside. The external walls are decorated with ceramic and stone slabs bearing reliefs with figures of double-headed eagles, crosses, etc., and the roof cornice is coated with lime mortar, and decorated with plant shoots, birds and cherubs.

In general, although the church has been constructed with ordinary and modest materials, the techniques employed to integrate them into the structure, as well as the art in process, testify to the presence of highly efficient craftsmen.

In the NW corner of the church and adjacent to the northern stonemasonry is the belfry, a more recent building, rectangular in plan.

Inside the church, the ceiling with its geometric patterns and the wood-carved omphalion, the iconostasis, a notable example of popular wood-carving art adorned with vines and grapes, as well as other wood-carved elements, such as the despotic throne, the shrines, etc., are of great interest.

The portable icons of the church are also noteworthy, which date back to the early 17th century until the first decades of the 20th century. Several icons bear dedicatory inscriptions by the inhabitants, as well as the Athonite monks of Sykia.

In 1975, the first recording of the relics preserved by the church was carried out, and in 1986, conservation work commenced, which is in progress to this day.

In 2007-2008, a series of restoration works were carried out on the belfry of the church under the supervision of the 10th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities.

In the period between 2011 and 2015, as part of the NSPA project implementation “Restoration of the Holy Church of St. Athanasios in Sykia”, work was carried out on the masonry, the south gallery, the roof, the floor and the wooden elements of the gynaikonitis, the columns of the church, the door and window frames, etc., under the supervision of the Ephorate of Antiquities of Chalkidiki and Mount Athos.