Árta - Panayía Parigorítissa

On a hill on the north side of the town, near Platía Skoufas, stands the church of the Panayía Parigorítissa (Mother of God the Swiftly Consoling), built about 1290 by Despot Nikifóros, a massive and imposing cube-shaped structure, with three superimposed tiers of columns supporting the 79ft/24m high dome. The church was partly built with material from the ruins of the Roman city of Nikopolis. The dome has mosaics of Christ Pantokrator and prophets. On the iconostasis is an icon of the church's patroness, the Mother of God the Swiftly Consoling.