HISTORY
DESCRIPTION
SITE MONUMENTS
THE MUSEUM
INFORMATION
PHOTOGALLERY
 
 
© Ministry of Culture and Sports, © 11th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities

In Aiani, during the byzantine and post-byzantine period, many churches were built and decorated with important wall paintings. In the centrial square of the village, the church which is dedicated in the Dormition of the Virgin, was rather built in the end of the 11th or in the beginning of the 12th c. In the end of 16th c., it was the Katholicon of a monastery, which is ruined nowadays.The wall paintings are dated in many periods. Few fragments of the first layer dated in the 12th c. are preserved. The second layer was painted in the 16th c. and is preserved all over the church. In the exonarthex, it was covered with new wall paintings in the 18th c. probably depicted by the painter Panos from Ioannina. In 1877, the painter Demetrios Adam Pitenis decorated some parts of the walls in the nave and narthex.



Near the church, a water mill is located, which belonged to the Zaborda's monastery and was dated in 1874. Other monuments in Aiani are the followings: an aisleless basilica dedicated in St.Anastasia Farmakolitria covered with wall paintings which were painted in the second half of the 19th c. An aisleless basilica dedicated in St.Ioanni Prodromos covered with wall paintings which were painted in the second half of the 19th c. The monastery of St.athanasios which belonged to the Zaborda's monastery. Nowadays, the cells, the Katholicon, the refectory, the store houses are abandoned and preserved in bad condition because of the many interventions which took place in the part.



The aisleless basilica dedicated in Taxiarchi was damaged by the earthquake of 1995 and is almost demolished. Some wall paintings are preserved which were painted in 1549 according to the donor's inscription. The aisleless basilica dedicated in St.Nikolaos is covered with wall paintings which are preserved in bad condition and are dated in 1552. The three aisled basilica dedicated in St.Dimitrios covered with two layers of frescoes which were painted in the 13th and 16th c. It used to be a Katholicon of a monastery. Near this church, the ruins of another basilica dedicated in St.Nestor is located which was covered with frescoes dated in the 16th c.
Author
Agathoniki Tsilipakou, archaeologist