The church of the Taxiarch or Ai Strategos, in the locality Niokastro a short distance from Kastania in Messenian Mani, is one of the loveliest Byzantine churches in the region. It is of cross-roof type with dome and is built with cloisonné masonry. Of the monument’s painted decoration, the wall-paintings in the south portico, which are dated to around 1194, are the best preserved. Surviving in the east vault is a rare depiction of an anthropomorphic Holy Trinity (God the Father and Christ on his right, seated on the same throne, and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove). Although the church was considered initially to be a thirteenth-century building, during works to restore it a donor inscription was uncovered, which dates its construction to the years (in the reign of Emperor Isaak II Angelos).
The monument was in a ruinous state. The whole of the vaulting and the dome had collapsed, while the poor condition of the roof of the portico had caused extensive damage to the wall-paintings, most of which had been lost. In order to salvage the church, the Non-profit Civil Company AEGEAS undertook all the demanding works for its restoration and rehabilitation, which were carried out under the supervision of the Ephorate of Antiquities of Messenia and in accordance with studies approved by the Ministry of Culture. The project included reinforcing the static adequacy of the monument, reconstructing the destroyed parts of the external faces, opening blocked windows, rehabilitating the roofs and retiling the dome, pointing and injections in the joints, conservation of the wall-paintings and landscaping of the grounds.
