Panagia Attaliotissa, a church dedicated to the Assumption of Virgin Mary, is located approximately 400m north of the village of Galini on Naxos.
This cruciform, domed basilica is a listed monument and is believed to have been built on the remains of an ancient temple dedicated to the goddess Artemis by a young noble woman hailing from Attalia in Asia Minor.
She is said to have reached Naxos carrying an icon of the Virgin Mary in the 8th-9th centuries -when icons were hotly contested- and built the church in Her honor. This icon went missing in the 19th century but resurfaced in the last century.
The church also possesses more exceptional icons from the 17th century, while layers of old frescoes have been discovered, some of these from the Byzantine period. The church’s existing marble altar screen has replaced an older wooden construction.
