Location
Church of Panagia Kera, Amari
Amari, Rethymno
Church of Panagia Kera, Amari – Amari, Rethymno
The Church of Panagia Kera, dedicated to Zoodochos Pigi (the Life-Giving Spring), in the Amari valley (municipality of Amari, Rethymno regional unit) is a three-aisled domed basilica built in the fifteenth century on the foundations of an earlier cross-in-square church dating from the thirteenth century. Surrounded by olive groves, it stands as an important example of late Byzantine sacred architecture on Crete.
Description
Panagia Kera was built on the site of an earlier thirteenth-century church, as evidenced by the preserved fragments of the apse, the prothesis and the diakonikon, as well as the remains of frescoes depicting the Dormition of the Mother of God and the Ascension. The present form of the building—a three-aisled basilica with a western narthex and a small north-western chapel—took shape in the fifteenth century after multiple phases of reconstruction.
The frescoes decorating the interior, though partly damaged, reflect the painting style of the late Byzantine period: the figures are defined by strong contour lines, and the compositions remain clear and well structured. On the south wall appears the coat of arms of the influential Kallergis family, indicating their patronage during the Venetian era. The surrounding area—with numerous drainage channels carved into what was once marshland—suggests prolonged continuity of cult activity on this site, possibly reaching back to antiquity, when an earlier sanctuary dedicated to Apollo may have stood here.
Location
Amari, Rethymno
Coordinates: 35.23402, 24.65374