Exaltation of the Holy Cross, Apollona

The parish church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross is located in the village of Apollona, on a verdant plateau in the interior of the island. It is located 49 kilometres from the city of Rhodes. It is a single-naved cruciform church with a narthex, a gynaiconite (lady chapel), a five-story bell tower and a pebbled floor dating from 1870. According to the founding inscription, it was built in 1858. It has a richly decorated wooden iconostasis in the Ottoman Baroque style (19th century). The church celebrates on September 14. On the eve of the celebration, a large number of people from the whole island flock to the vespers of this pilgrimage. Cultural events take place in the square outside the church at the same time. Several valuable relics are kept in the church. The most important ones are the wood-carved cross (10th – 11th century) which contains a fragment of the Sacred Wood of the Holy Cross, a parchment Codex (12th century), an illustrated and decorated manuscript and the double faceted miraculous icon that depicts the Virgin Mary “Karyonitissa” on one side, and on the other the Birth of the Virgin. The icon was silver plated with the coat of arms of Grand Magister Pierre d’Aubusson (1476-1503), who is considered its donor. Next to the church, in a specially designed area, we find the ecclesiastical museum which houses relics of the ecclesiastical tradition of Apollona. A short distance from the church, in the Eleousa area, we find the church of Saint Charalambos and the chapel of Panagia Eleousa (Virgin Mary the merciful), and the church of Saint Nikolaos in the Foudoukli area (15th century).