The Church of the Virgin Mary of Foreigners is an Orthodox church in the historic old center of Corfu Town, opposite the Church of St. Ioannis the Precursor and the Banknote Museum of the Ionian Bank.
The church was built in the 17th century after a large number of people from Epirus migrated to Corfu during the Ottoman invasion of their land. After fleeing from the Ottoman attempts to introduce Islam in Epirus, the religiously fanatic Epirotes felt uncomfortable assimilating on the island. Therefore the ‘foreigners’ decided to create their own religious space, which is why their church is called the Church of the Virgin Mary of Foreigners.
The church was built by the priest Nicodemus from Epirus and construction started in 1689 and was completed the following year. The basilica-style temple has three aisles and is distinguished by an exquisite ceiling. The building is not entirely symmetrical as the eastern wall is 9.8 meters long, while the wester wall only measures 9.4 meters and the narthex also decreases from 1.26 meters to 0.9 meters between west and east. The church has a length of 16.16 meters and a height of 9.39 meters and is covered with a triangular wooden roof with tiles. In 1832 the height of the church was raised following the plans of the Corfiote architect Ioannis Chronis.
The 5.45-meter long gilded iconostasis is decorated in Baroque style with wood carvings and was restored by craftsmen from Naples in 1875. There is also a rare icon from 1814 by M. Mantsavinos called “Riza Lessay” and the pulpit of the church is decorated with an unusual image of Jesus Christ driving the merchants out of the temple.
The yearly celebration of the Church of the Virgin Mary of Foreigners is on August 15th.
