All about Zakynthos

Church of the presentation of the Virgin Mary in the town, next to the Mansion Roma. It was built in 1687 by the priest Filaretos Kalogeropoulos or Laboudis, who dedicated it in his will (1715) to the association of the Notaries of Zakynthos. The outer facade of the church and the bell tower, in the Spanish plataresco style, was decorated with stone reliefs carved on tuff cornerstone. The arched doorway was decorated with a portal made of two Corinthian columns, and a broken entablature. The reliefs emerged from the drum of the pediment and depicted the Virgin holding the baby Jesus. At the top two angels wore a diadem and at the bottom she was praised by six-winged worshippers. Below there were different symbolic representations: the sun, the moon, stars and a coat of arms with a cross in the middle and the initials IXNKA Jesus Chirst conquers all. It was decorated with great works of art from the late 17th century and early 18th century. The prevailing icon of Christ as King of Kings and Great High Priest is the work of Panagiotis Doxaras (1691), repaired by Nikolaos Koutouzis. Among the magnificent carved woodcarvings "the Meeting of Elizabeth and Mary" by S. Stenda and "the healing of the ten lepers", unknown, dated 1723. The bell tower, continuous with the church, also had interesting reliefs and its own doorway, leading to a courtyard with an external staircase to the women's gallery. The church was restored after the earthquakes of 1953.