Location
Church of Panagia, Lissos
Lissos, Chania
Church of Panagia, Lissos – Lissos, Chania
The Church of the Virgin Mary (Panagia) in Lissos is a small stone temple built on the grounds of the ancient city, near the ruins of the sanctuary of Asclepius. This single-nave, vaulted structure with a semicircular apse and a preserved fragment of stone flooring is an example of late Byzantine sacred architecture in the Selino region. The interior retains remnants of fourteenth-century frescoes, now heavily damaged by moisture and the passage of time.
Description
The Panagia in Lissos lies in a quiet valley surrounded by the ruins of the ancient city and overgrown with wild fig trees. In the Middle Ages, several chapels were built here to mark the Christian re-appropriation of the former sanctuary of Asclepius. One of them was the Church of the Virgin Mary—a simple, single-nave stone structure likely erected on the foundations of an earlier ancient building.
Fragments of frescoes survive on the walls, including depictions of the Mother of God with the Child and saints in medallions. The style points to a local workshop connected to the tradition of Ioannis Pagomenos, characteristic of fourteenth-century Selino. The frescoes exhibit subdued colours and gentle facial modelling, although their condition does not allow for a full reconstruction of the original iconographic programme.
The surroundings of the chapel give it a distinctive atmosphere—amid ancient columns, stone sarcophagi, and mosaics, the Panagia appears as a bridge between eras. In the silence of the valley, where bodies were once healed and where only a few pilgrims now pray, the echo of the ancient sacred presence still lingers. The Church of the Virgin Mary in Lissos remains one of the most important traces of Christian heritage resting upon the ruins of the ancient world.
Location
Lissos, Chania
Coordinates: 35.24062, 23.78771