Panagia Kera

Situated just a short walk from Kritsa in a place called Logari, the Panayia Kera is an exquisite little chapel that sits in a cluster of cypress trees.

The spot invites reverence. There is something particularly moving about the church with its tiled roof, arches, domes, and modern buttresses.

The central section is dedicated to the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the right-hand section to St. Anne and the left to St. Antony.

Coming upon the spot, you know you are in the presence of a very special place. But the real treat for the visitor is entering the small chapel. Byzantine frescoes, which were only uncovered in 1971, adorn the walls and ceilings of every inch of its interior.

But these are not the usual dour saints glaring out of glassy and lifeless eyes. The green and blues and oranges and reds of these frescoes look fresh and bright. (Their existence had been hidden for hundreds of years by earlier Christians to avoid their destruction by the Turkish occupiers).

They are religious in tone and in intent, but the artist who lovingly designed and executed the miniature scenes and stories had an obvious ability to wed religious devotion with secular art, for his frescoes are like rich tapestries. There are banquet scenes in which the women wear pearl headdresses, embroidered bodices, and large gold loop earrings.

A cape sweeps over tiny shoes adorned with jewels and the shading of the artist's hand gives the sheen of silk and the softness of velvet to the robes Some of the diaphanous skirts of the women even suggest a sensuousness not normally attributed to Byzantine fresco painters.

The visitor will find it hard to leave the interior of this little church.