Agia Sofia of Andravida

The Gothic church of Agia (Saint) Sophia is located in the center of Andravida, being the only visible remnant of the city that was the medieval capital of the Principality of Achaia. In the "Chronicle of Moreos" it is mentioned that Agia Sophia is one of the three Gothic churches that the Franks built in the city. Of the other two, Agios Stefanos and Agios Iakovos, the burial chapel of the Villeardouins, no traces of them are preserved today.

The order of Dominican monks founds the church of Agia Sophia in the first half of the 13th century. The church, a large wooden-roofed basilica with three aisles and an original length of more than 45m, functioned as the court temple of the Villeardouins, as the cathedral seat of the Latin bishop Olenis, as a place where the Great Court met, the council of the prince with the main responsibility of conferment of high civility and where important social events took place.

Today, only the sacred step, the two square chapels to the right and left of the sacred step covered by ribbed vaults and the foundation of the side walls and arches are preserved from the church. For the masonry, large ashlar stones were used as well as older Byzantine sculptures. Western type windows pierce the walls of the apse and chapels, while niches are formed in the south wall of the sanctuary and south chapel.

The surviving architectural elements of the temple (cross vaults with ribs, capitals with floral decoration, furousia, external radially arranged buttresses) bear witness to the strong Gothic influences of its construction.

The construction of the church seems to have been carried out in different periods; possibly the northern chapel and the corresponding aisle belong to a later construction. After the fall of the Frankish rule, Agia Sophia reportedly functioned as an Orthodox church, while according to tradition, unsuccessful attempts were made to turn it into a mosque during the Turkish rule. An Orthodox church functioned in the surviving remains of the Gothic church and in recent years after the independence of the Greek state.

Two important sculptures come from the area of Andravida, which are currently housed in the Chlemoutsi Castle museum. This is the marble epitaph of Princess Anna Villeardouins, daughter of the Byzantine ruler of Epirus Michael II Angelos Duke of Comnenus, third and last wife of William II Villeardouins (1286) and a capital bearing in relief the coat of arms of the princely couple Isabella Villeardouins - Florentiu D'Aino (1289 – 1297).

Copyediting:
Ephorate of Antiquities of Ilia