Church of Panagia Protothronos (Naxos)

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The Church of Panagia Protothronos (Greek: Παναγία Πρωτόθρονος, "Panagia of the First Throne") is located in the village of Halki in Tragaia, in the interior of Naxos island in Greece. The church is dedicated to the Annunciation, and was probably an early Christian basilica, of which only the synthronon and the episcopal throne in the semi-circular sanctuary conch survive. In middle Byzantine times the building was converted into a transitional cross-in-square church.

A domed narthex was later added, flanked by the chapel of Saint Akindynos to the north and a vaulted rectangular room to the south. According to an architrave inscription probably from the templon, the church was renovated in 1052. The inscription also mentions the names of Bishop Leo, Niketas, "protospatharios and tourmarches of Naxia" and Count Stephen Kamilaris.

Other 16th and 17th-century inscriptions refer to subsequent repairs. The church interior is decorated in five successive layers dating to the early Christian period; the 9th century (non-figurative decoration); and the 10th, 11th, and 13th centuries. Some of these were detached and then repositioned once the earliest layer had been removed, so frescoes from...