Holy Church of the Transfiguration of the Saviour

The Byzantine church of the Transfiguration of the Saviour (Metamorphosis tou Soteras), in the neighbourhood of Koumani of the Community of Nomitsi, is one of the most elegant Byzantine monuments in Messenian Mani. It is dated to the late twelfth-thirteenth century and is of the simple four-columned cross-in-square type with small dome and three apses. Its exterior is enlivened by rich ornamental brickwork, while the interior is covered with wall-paintings executed in three phases. The earliest phase is dated to the early thirteenth century. The greater part of the church was decorated in the sixteenth-seventeenth century. The dosserets of the four columns, the marble arched iconostasis and the slab of the altar table are notable specimens of Maniot marble-carving. The monument presented structural and static problems, and the wall-paintings had suffered serious damage. The Non-profit Civil Company AEGEAS undertook the conservation of the mural decoration, after completion of consolidation and restoration works on the church by the Ephorate of Antiquities of Messenia.

DONATION OF THE NON-PROFIT CIVIL COMPANY AEGEAS

• Conservation of the wall-paintings in the church.