Situated on the eastern side of Municipal square, the roman catholic cathedral of Saint Jacob and Saint Christopher is one of the finest examples of baroque architecture in Greece.
It was built in 1588 following a licence given by archibishop Martino to the roman catholic community of the island. More than a century before, in 1466, the Pope gave his permission to the catholic fraternity of St.Jacob and St. Christopher to built a church and a place where the members of the fraternity returningfrom Jerusalem could be hosted. In 1633 the holy relics of St. Arsenios were moved to the cathedral while in 1659, the archibishop Lavia added six little chapels. In 1709, the cathedral was renovated but in 1943 it was heavily damaged by the nazi germans bombs. The building was restored by the 1970s but St. Jacobs holy relics had been moved to the orthodox cathedral of St. Theodora.
There are services every Sunday assisted by the majority of catholic christians that live in the island, who are about as many as 2.000 people. It is also a popular classical music venue because of its excellent acoustics. Below there are some photos I took last December when I visited the cathedral.
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