The Sacred Church of the Metamorphosi of the Sotir [Transfiguration of the Saviour] in Plataniti

This small church belongs to the relatively rare type of compact cross-in-square. Churches of this type are reminiscent of the cross-in-square churches, with the difference that the pillars which support the dome are incorporated into the adjacent walls, which results in the corner bays not being visible from the interior. In this way, they resemble the centrally planned buildings, which, during Paleo-Christian times were used as baptisteries or funeral monuments. Today, the church has an entrance in the west side and a large three-sided apse to the east, which used to have a tri-lobed window, which has been now been blocked off. Originally, there were doors on the north side of the church, while to the south there was a four-sided monumental construction (most likely a tomb) touching the monument, a fact which strengthens the hypothesis that the original use of the church was funereal. Later, the north door was built in and the southern tomb construction was demolished and removed from the church. The apse and the largest part of the masonry in the church, are constructed of rectangular blocks of stone in the cloisonné system. The ceramic decorations (crosses, disepsilons and astragals) between the joints are interesting and similar to those found in the church of Koimisi of the Theotokos in Neo Heraio. The bi-lobe window in the south side of the church is decorated with a brick relief arch, which has a saw-tooth design. The small scale of the church, its carefully laid masonry and 'Athenian' style dome, with its limestone cornices, add a sense of grace and elegance to the monument, which dates from the first fifty years of the 12^th century.