Vandalism against the historical church of Mother of God (Kapnikarea) in Athens
March 14, 2015. An act of vandalism against the historical church of Mother of God (Kapnikarea) was committed in Athens as reports protothema.gr. A group of 200 people was going to the ancient center of Athens, Monastiraki, demonstrating for the rights of migrants. The group consisted of 30 Greeks and 170 migrants. The crowd stopped outside of the church of Mother of God and of Saint Barbara and one of the Greeks jumped in the yard and wrote with a spray on the wall of the church: “We are breaking silence; we are getting out in the streets”.
The people who saw his action negatively reacted to it, trying to stop the young man. But he continued to write on the wall and then answered aggressively that “he will do whatever he wants”. People were afraid and didn’t continue any conversation with him.
The church of Mother of God and of Saint Barbara, known as “Holy Church of the University”, was built in the 11th century and belongs to the University of Athens. The archaeological service of Athens was informed and the experts will clean its wall from the colors.
Photo documents from protothema.gr
Video document from newsit.gr
The expert explains in Greek that inscriptions on a such historical monument are considered as vandalism and that it is very difficult to restore the wall in its previous state.