Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens 4.13

The Metropolitan Cathedral of the Annunciation popularly known as the "Mētrópolis", is the cathedral church of the Archbishopric of Athens and all Greece.Construction of the Cathedral began on Christmas Day, 1842 with the laying of the cornerstone by King Otto and Queen Amalia.Workers used marble from 72 demolished churches to build the Cathedral's immense walls. Three architects and 20 years later, it was complete. On May 21, 1862, the completed Cathedral was dedicated to the Annunciation of the Mother of God '' by the King and Queen. The Cathedral is a three-aisled, domed basilica that measures 130ft long, 65ft wide, and 80ft high. Inside are the tombs of two saints killed by the Ottoman Turks during the Ottoman period: Saint Philothei and Patriarch Gregory V. Saint Philothei built a convent, was martyred in 1559, and her bones are still visible in a silver reliquary. She is honored for ransoming Greek women enslaved in Ottoman Empire's harems. Gregory V the Ethnomartyr, Patriarch of Constantinople, was hanged by order of Sultan Mahmud II and his body thrown into the Bosphorus in 1821, in retaliation for the Greek uprising on March 25, leading to the Greek War of Independence. His body was rescued by Greek sailors and eventually enshrined in Athens. To the immediate south of the Cathedral is the little Church of St. Eleftherios also called the "Little Mitropoli."