Church of Panaghia Kapnikarea

The Kapnikarea is a middle Byzantine cross-in-square church from the 11th century, making it one of the oldest churches in Athens. It sits in the middle of the Odos Ermou pedestrian zone, today the city's main shopping street, with traffic flowing around the small church square. The unusual name is traced to a medieval tax collector who levied the smoke tax (kapnikon). In the 19th century the church was slated for demolition during street widening, but King Ludwig I of Bavaria saved it after his son Otto, then king of Greece, intervened. The interior frescoes were painted in the 1950s by Photis Kontoglou in Byzantine tradition. Today the church belongs to the University of Athens and is a popular spot for short prayers between shopping trips.