Church of the Assumption & the Five New Martyrs, Chora

The most important church on Samothraki

You can spot it from anywhere in Chora: the bell tower rises above the red roofs in the centre of the village. Work on the church began in 1867 on the site of an older one, paid for with gifts from people all over the island, from land and animals to jewellery, honey, wax and cheese. It was consecrated in 1875, though the bell tower was only finished in 1925.

Inside it is a three-aisled basilica with grey-green marble columns, a wooden ceiling and a carved iconostasis with three rows of icons.

What it keeps

• The icon of Panagia Krimniotissa, the island's most loved icon, brought from the chapel on the rock above Pachia Ammos.
• The relics of the Five New Martyrs: five young islanders taken prisoner after the uprising of 1821, who returned to their faith and were executed in 1835. Their skulls rest in a gilded chest, with an icon of the five on an outside wall.
• Old church books printed in Venice.

Feast days

On Thomas Sunday, the first Sunday after Easter, every priest on the island takes part in the service for the Five New Martyrs, followed by a procession of their relics. On 15 August the church stays open into the night and the square behind it hosts a panigyri with music, dancing and food.

The church usually opens on Sunday mornings and on holy days. Behind it a small garden holds a memorial to islanders who fell in the wars of 1917 to 1922.