Moni Latomou

   The original church was small and square in plan, with an apse at the east end and an entrance in the west wall. In each of the four corners of the building, a small chamber was constructed, thus forming a cross with equal arms in the area of the naos. The whole west side of the church is now ruined and the entrance is located on the south side. Of the interior decoration is preserved the famous mosaic in the conch of the sanctuary, dated to the 5th-6th century and fragments of wall paintings, dated to the 12th century A.D.
   The church was built at the end of the 5th or the beginning of the 6th century, over an earlier, Roman building. It was the catholicon (main church) of the Latomos Monastery but in 1430, after the conquest of Thessalonike by the Turks, it was converted into a mosque and the mosaic and fresco decoration was plastered over. The famous mosaic was discovered when the monument was turned over to the Christian cult with the liberation of the city, in 1921.
   In 1929, excavations were conducted on the interior of the church.
   The monument has undergone several phases of restoration and consolidation over the years. Recently, in 1980 the west wall was restored and in 1991 the propylon on the south side was reconstructed.
   The monument is used as a church.