Mon, Apr 20, 2020
Agios Nikolaos (Saint Nicholas) church in Polygyros is a traditional long basilica, with a nave and two aisles and a seven-arched porch. The separate, square-sectioned bell tower, at the northwest corner of the church, is topped by octagonal clock housing with four clock faces and a blue domed roof which are visible from several vantage points around the town. According to a marble plaque on the bell tower, the clock was donated by Dimitri and Olympia Mareti in 1953.
Directly below the bell tower is the grave of Metropolitan Kassandreias Eirinaios. A metropolitan in the Greek Orthodox Church is the equivalent of a bishop, and Polygyros is the seat of the Metropolis of Kassandreia. Eirinaios was born Emmanuel Pantoleontos in the Princes Islands near Constantinople (Istanbul) and died in Polygyros. He is remembered here as a fearless supporter of Greek independence and resistance during the conflicts with Turkey and Bulgaria and the Nazi occupation.