Eleonas, Municipality of Megara
«Returning to Megara, we took our horses and went three or four miles north, to a ruined town called Paleochori,
where we saw six or seven churches, built, as I found out, from the ruins of some older buildings.
In there we found ancient inscriptions»
George Wheler and Jacob Spon, travelers, 1676
With these words the priest and scholar Sir George Wheler, who visited the region of Megara in 1676 with the French doctor and archaeologist Jacob Spon, describes his impressions from his tour in the area of Eleonas (olive grove) oof Megara, where among the remains of a ruined city stood some chapels, built of ancient material, in which the two travelers found ancient inscriptions.
Inextricably linked to the life of the city of Megara, the Eleonas is spread out overgrown with age-old olive trees, offering for centuries to the Megarites the precious gift of the olive tree. Βeing a timeless source of food and workplace, Eleonas has hosted from antiquity until today many families of Megarite farmers, who left their mark on the ancient remains that have been identified in various places,
Among them are still preserved the Byzantine churches of Eleonas that the travelers of the 17th century saw on their journey. The Churches of Metamorphosi Sotira ("Christos" as the Megarites call it), Agios Athanasios, and Agios Georgios stand out. Next is the triangular church of Agia Varvara, which was integrated into the modern Monastery of Agios Nektarios and Agia Varvara, constituting its Katholikon, and the Churches of Agios Nikolaos in "Akres" and Agios Stefanos, very damaged today.
Church of the Metamorphosi Sotira (Christos), Eleonas, Municipality of Megara
The Church of the Metamorphosi Sotira, in Eleonas of Megara, known to the local community as "Christos", is the most important and best-preserved Byzantine church in the wider area of the city of Megara.
Church of Agios Athanasios, Eleonas, Municipality of Megara
Just 200 meters southeast of the Church of Christ is the Church of Agios Athanasios, which belongs to the architectural type of the simple four-column cruciform inscribed domed church. The dating of the fresco of Agia Kyriaki in the first half of the 13th c. provides an ante quem dating of the monument.
Church of Agios Georgios, site Orkos, Eleonas, Municipality of Megara
The Church of Agios Georgios is located about 1 km southwest of the Churches of Christ and Agios Athanasios, in a place of Eleonas called "Orkos" or "Abatzades", very close to the tunnels of the ancient aqueduct that fed the "Fountain of Theagenes", in the city of Megara. The church dates back to the 12th century and today survives in a semi-ruined condition.
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