Church of Porta Panagia

The important Byzantine church of Porta Panagia is located on the foot of the Pindos mountain pass, in the settlement of Porta, which until recently was connected to Pyli through the arched bridge of Saint Bessarion. It was built in 1283 as the katholikon (main church) of the stauropegic Monastery of Megales Pyles by John Angelos Komnenos Doukas, sebastokrator of Thessaly and illegitimate son of Michael II Doukas, despot of Epirus. The main church follows the architectural form of a three-aisled cross-vaulted church, while the exonarthex, added at the end of the 14^th century, belongs to the domed cross-in-square type. Architectural remains on site suggest the possible existence of an earlier ancient temple.

Two full-length mosaic icons of Christ and the Virgin Mary are embedded in the marble iconostasis, placed in reverse order from the usual arrangement, with Christ on the left and the Virgin on the right, depicted in the rare “Dexiokratousa” (Right-Handed) type. On the south wall of the inner narthex is the tomb of the founder in the form of an arcosolium. On the arch of the arcosolium, John is depicted in monastic attire being led by an angel toward the enthroned Virgin Mary.