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The historic Fethiye Mosque in the centre of Athens will re-open to the public after the restoration works on the monument of the 17th century have been completed. The mosque is located near the Roman Agora and is one of the most significant monuments of the Ottoman period in the Greek capital.

It is expected that the project to restore the mosque, which is included in the National Strategic Reference Framework (with a budget of about 1,300,000 euro) and implemented by the Directorate for the Restoration of Byzantine and post- Byzantine Monuments, will be completed by September 2015, says the director of the institution.

The reinforcement and restoration works aim to uncover the important elements of the monument and to make it suitable for small exhibitions or events that correspond to its character, not only for visits.

Fethiye Mosque was built around the year 1670 on the ruins of a Byzantine Christian basilica. It is the oldest representative example of the architectural style known as "quatrefoil" because of the way in which the central dome is shaped, namely through four smaller domes.

It is believed that this style was created in the Ottoman capital, Hagia Sofia in Istanbul being its possible model, and it is found in famous mosques throughout the city (the Blue Mosque, Geni Mosque) as well as in other places in the Balkans, and even in Cairo.

Omonia Square: the full restoration of the church "Sts Constantine and Helen" will be completed within two months

The restoration works on "Sts Constantine and Helen" church in Omonia Square in central Athens, which has been damaged by earthquakes and natural wear and tear, will be completed within about two months, i.e. earlier than expected.

Head of the Directorate for the Restoration of Byzantine and post- Byzantine Monuments of the Ministry of Culture Themistoklis Vlachoulis states that the reinforcement and restoration works carried out on the neoclassical building in the centre of Athens in recent years will be completed in early summer.

The decision for the erection of the church was taken in 1869 by the Municipal Council of the Municipality of Athens in honour of Crown Prince Constantine (the son of Greek King George I and Queen Olga), who was born a year earlier.

The church, a symbol of an era when the Megali Idea (the Great Idea) dominated refers to the category of three-nave churches and it is in the neoclassical style.

The foundations of the church were laid in 1871 in compliance with the plan developed by eminent Greek architect Lisandros Kavtantzoglou but the church was completed much later, in 1905, and with a lot of differences, as seen from the drawings of the famous specialist. The two major earthquakes of 1981 and 1999, combined with natural wear and the bad construction decisions, caused serious problems in the building that ceased to function as a parish church.

Rescue measures were taken in 2001-2002 and in 2003-2005 when the first phase of the reinforcement and restoration works on the monument was completed. The second stage involved the activities included in the National Strategic Reference Framework with a budget of about 3.5 million euro; it began in April 2013 and its completion was initially scheduled for October 2015. The activities included reinforcement and restoration works to preserve the architecture and the authenticity of the church and of the traditional building techniques used. The ultimate goal is for the church to reopen and to start to function, and to become a monument that is open to the public.