Church of Kapnikarea

In front of you, in the middle of Athens' busiest shopping street, a Byzantine church from around 1050 holds its ground. Shoppers part to pass it like water around a rock. That it is still here is something of an urban-planning miracle.

1A name that smells of smoke

Its name has inspired several explanations. The most common links it to the kapnikon, a Byzantine tax paid on every household, literally on every “smoke”. According to tradition, the founder was a collector of that tax, a kapnikarios. Others think it is simply a surname, and some recall an earlier name, Kamoucharea, linked to silk-weaving workshops said to have stood nearby. None of these versions is proven.

2Saved by a Bavarian king

When Athens became capital of the new Greek kingdom in 1834, King Otto's planners laid straight streets over the Ottoman maze, and this church was in the way. The story goes that it was the king's father, Ludwig I of Bavaria, a great lover of antiquity, who stepped in to stop its demolition. Since 1931 it has belonged to the University of Athens. Inside, the painter Fotis Kontoglou and his pupils created, between 1942 and 1955, paintings that revived the Byzantine style.

The planners wanted a straight street; Athens ended up with a street that bends around its history.

3What to look for

• The walls of stone blocks framed by brick, the Byzantine “cloisonné” style.
• The modern mosaic above the south entrance.
• The drop between the church and the street, which shows how much the city's ground level has risen.