Authentikk project

A church – museum, in the beautiful Kleisoura of Kastoria

In the small and picturesque village of Kleisoura in Kastoria, the most famous of the six homonymous villages in Greece, the “women’s shrine” of an ornate 19th century church hides a unique spiritual and cultural treasure. The famous village of Kastoria has every reason to be proud of the “Kiliarchion” of Kleissoura, which preserves and highlights an important part of local history.

The church of Agios Demetrios is one of the two imposing churches of the village, the other is that of Agios Nikolaos in the upper neighbourhood, both of which are today a typical example of the economic boom and prosperity of Kleissoura in the 18th and 19th centuries. It was the time when the people of Kleisouri excelled abroad as merchants, but without forgetting their homeland, with donations and benefactions.

Agios Dimitrios was built on the site of an older church and its construction is dated between 1846 and 1856. The wood-carved iconostasis is of remarkable art, while the portable icon of Agios Dimitrios dated 30/5/1733, as well as the despotic throne and the shrine dated 25 March 1820, exactly one year before the outbreak of the Greek Revolution, are considered of historical value.

he frescoes were painted by Samarinian and Kleisourian hagiographers, while the portable icons of the church are of post-Byzantine art. Among the religious relics of the church, the most important is the silver reliquary of 1870 that houses the relics of Agios Theodoros Stratilatos.

The imposing bell tower, with a square plan, was built in 1858 and recently restored. It is a five-storey stone structure, with wooden floors and staircases and the bell at the top. The church of Agios Dimitrios is included as a monument in the List of Archaeological Sites and Monuments of the Ministry of Culture.