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© Ministry of Culture and Sports
View of the Church of Agios Nikolaos from the southeast: the enclosed balcony with its exterior wall paintings
Many churches in the center and in the area of Velvento which are covered with frescoes dated from the 12th to 19th c. are open to visitors. In the entrance of Velvento, the church of St.Minas is located and is covered with frescoes which are painted in the 13th and 15th c. Next to it, the post-byzantine church of St.Nikolaos was built. An important gilded temple in relief with floral ornaments dated in 1591 is preserved in it, while the wall paintings were depicted in 1588. In the center of Velvento, the church of the Dormition of the Virgin was built in 1804 and decorated the same period with frescoes which have western and rather provincial influences. The wooden temple in relief made in 1804-1807 is impressive.



In the site of Gratsiani, the three-aisled basilica of St.Dimitrius was built probably in the 15th c. Exterior wall paintings from the same period are preserved in bad condition, while those of the sanctuary were painted in the 16th -17th c. Thwe important gilded temple in relief was made in the 16th century but it also preserves parts from another made in the 14th -15th c.



In the site of Palaikastro, two aisleless basilica of St.George and St.Nikolaos are located with fragments of frescoes which were painted in the end of 15th or in the beginning of 16th c. In distance of 8Km from Velvento, the monastery of St.Triada is located.The Katholicon is an aisleless basilica with narthex and was built in 17th c. The cells and the other buildings of the monadtery must be built in 15th c. and are mentioned in a manuscript of 1551.



In the site of Palaiogratsano, the aisleless basilica of St.Paraskevi preserves wapp paintings in the sanctuary dated in the 14th -15th c., a fine example of the anticlassic motion of the local workshops of Macedonia.
Author
Agathoniki Tsilipakou, archaeologist