The church of Agios Konstantinos and Agia Eleni

The land plot deemed most suitable to serve the needs of the Christian residents had been jointly owned by Muslim women who lived in the neighbourhood and the foundations for the church were laid in 1907, very soon after the land was acquired. However, the church was not inaugurated until 1915, even though it had not been completed yet and was just functional enough to open to the public. Construction work in the building continued for years, while the religious equipment required for its operation was donated by the Metropolitan church. The belfry was built much later and when the large church bell arrived to be installed, the Christian residents gathered to welcome it, as depicted in the photograph from 1930, indicating the symbolic significance the bell held for the congregation.

The construction of the church of Agios Konstantinos and Agia Eleni was completed thanks to the contributions of the congregation, who diligently organised regular fundraisers, took out loans and sought out donations of icons and volunteers to paint the religious murals. Nea Chora’s Christian residents adopted the same collaborative approach about 100 years later when they built Agia Aikaterini, the second church in the area, which was inaugurated in 2014.