Church of Porta Panagia
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The Byzantine church of Porta Panagia is located in the homonymous settlement of Pyli and is a three-aisled, vaulted, cross-roofed basilica. The communication between Porta Panagia (with the Byzantine name Megales Pyles) and Pyli was until recently through the arched bridge of Agios Bessarion. It was built in 1283 by John Doukas Komnenos, ruler of Thessaly for the Despotate of Epirus. It is one of the three cross-roofed churches in Thessaly and the only one in Greece for the location of the mosaic icons of Christ and the Virgin Mary, which are placed on either side of the Main Gate in a reverse position from that of the Orthodox arrangement (Christ is on the left and the Virgin Mary on the right), thus constituting the only Right-handed Virgin Mary in Greece. The church was once the catholicon of a stauropegic monastery, which had been built on the site of an ancient sanctuary. Recently, the tomb of John Doukas was discovered during excavations inside the church.
