Church of the Holy Trinity of Divri

The Holy Church of the Holy Trinity is located in the cemetery of the village of Divri, in the neighbourhood Groustades or Apano Mahalas, in a settlement with a long post-Byzantine history. It is the oldest monument of the village and of the wider mountainous eastern Ilia. The dating of the church is placed from the 14th century, during the Palaeologan period when its erection is dated, to the period of the Ottoman rule. The church type belongs to a peculiar variation of the cross-in-square with a narthex and three barrel-vaulted apses to the east. It has simple facades with the architectural decoration limited to three dentil courses. The church is in relatively good condition after the restoration works carried out on the monument in the 1960s.

The monument preserves its mural decoration, of which two layers can be distinguished: the original, which is preserved in good condition, belongs to the late Byzantine times (14th c.), while the second to the post-Byzantine (period of Ottoman rule). From the wall paintings of the church stand out scenes such as: the enthroned Virgin Mary and Child (Brefokratousa) between angels (central apse) and as Blachernitissa (lateral ones), the Communion of the Apostles, priests performing the liturgy and Melismοs, the Entrance to the Temple and Nativity from the Marian cycle, the Divine Passion, the martyrdoms of the Saints, representations from the extended cycle of the Twelve Great Feasts and the cycle of the Divine Passion, bands with full-body men and women saints, ascetics and warriors, etc.
 

Copyediting: Ephorate of Antiquities of Ilia