18th part of Drama cultural routes - OLD CATHEDRAL - Greece

18th part of Drama cultural routes - OLD CATHEDRAL

2500 YEARS OF HISTORY IN ONE HOUR

Drama Cultural Route

Drama municipality

Drama Old Town

Drama municipality

Drama Old Town

Culture Centre_Elepherias

Drama municipality

Culture Centre_Elepherias

Drama Municipality

Classical Building in Drama

Drama municipality

View of Drama

18th part of Drama cultural routes - OLD CATHEDRAL

THE OLD CATHEDRAL of Drama has been saved in part next to the new metropolitan church and is dedicated to the “Entry (Eisodia) of the Mother of God (Theotokos) into the Temple” (i.e. “Presentation of the Blessed

Virgin Mary”). Formerly in its place there was a Byzantine or Early Post Byzantine church, which was renovated by metropolitan bishop Parthenios in 1721; the church was apparently entirely rebuilt in 1834 by metropolitan bishop of Drama Germanos after the disastrous earthquake of 1829. It falls under the category of the three-nave basilicas with a two-pane roof. On its elaborately sculpted wooden iconostasis there are remarkable icons of the mid 19th century, some of which are signed by painters from Nevrokopi, Stergios and Anthimos, as well as by Iakovos from Melenikon. A hand-written Holy Liturgy of exceptional historical value for Drama was kept in the Old Cathedral till 1917, when it was despoiled by the Bulgarians; today the manuscript is kept at the “Cyril and Methodius Library” in Sophia. Until the middle of the 20th century, the cathedral courtyard also included the bishop’s residence (Episkopeion) built by Saint Chrysostomos, where secret meetings were held by the bishop and the fighters of the Macedonian Struggle.