Holy Church of Saints Constantine and Helen

On the site where the present-day Holy Metropolitan Church of Saints Constantine and Helen stands, on the seafront of Glyfada, there were until 1942 two churches: a small stone chapel that served the faithful of the local parish in its early years, and a larger, monumental church under construction. The older chapel was destroyed by a bomb in 1942, while the second church, whose foundation stone had been laid in 1935, was inaugurated on 16 September 1945 on its current site, and has since become a landmark of the area.
The church was designed by architect Georgios Dragazikis. Its founders were Alkiviadis and Evangelia Tatakis, whose donation initiated its construction. It is a circular, cross-in-plan church (Rotonda), featuring an imposing central dome and four smaller domes above the bell towers. The main dome is divided by 32 ribs into corresponding sections, each incorporating stained-glass windows. It rests on four spherical pendentives that lead to four piers, in a structural arrangement reminiscent of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople.

The interior of the church is particularly striking and monumental. The depiction of the Virgin Platytera in the sanctuary is the work of Fotis Kontoglou, while a large part of the church was iconographically decorated by A. Avdelopoulos in the 1970s. Especially impressive are the representations adorned with gold mosaics.
Between 2006 and 2010, the donation of Athanasios and Marina Martinos proved instrumental in the conservation and restoration of the church, which was facing serious structural stability issues.

DONATION OF THE NON-PROFIT CIVIL COMPANY AEGEAS

• Structural reinforcement of the dome using composite materials.
• Renovation of the exterior façades (repainting).
• Conservation of the iconographic decoration and mosaics in the interior of the Holy Church.