Byzantine Churches of Naxos

The island of Naxos houses an extraordinary wealth of about 140 Byzantine churches, the oldest of which date back to the 4th century. In many of the churches significant remains of byzantine wall paintings exist; some are well preserved, but most are badly damaged both by the long years of foreign rule and by the ravages of time and weather. In the churches of Naxos, 180 different layers of wall paintings have been recorded, dating from all phases of the Byzantine period, which covers a good thousand years (4th to 15th century, the last centuries under Venetian rule), with a peak in the 13th and 14th centuries. On Naxos, all phases of the development of the murals over the centuries are represented by many examples.
Many more Byzantine churches and murals can be found on Naxos than on all the other Cyclades together; but even in Greece and in the whole of the Balkans hardly anywhere exists such a collection of interesting and important medieval churches.