Ayios Haralambos Church

About this place

This church survived for the least romantic reason imaginable: nobody could agree on a price. After the 1923 population exchange the Greeks left Çeşme, leaving behind roughly seventy-five churches, and this one was also marked for demolition. The only man in town with a cart big enough to haul the rubble asked for more than the town would pay, so the building simply stayed. Today it is the last of all those churches still standing, planted in the middle of the bazaar street a few steps from the sweet shops and beach-towel stalls. It went up around 1830 to 1832 on the site of an older 18th-century church and served as the metropolitan church of Çeşme. Inside are three naves: the central one for St Charalambos, the right for St Stephen, the left for the Virgin. The frescoes on the ceiling and walls are by a painter recorded as I. Sitaras and lay hidden under layers of paint until restoration exposed them; the most striking is an open eye above the apse, watching the whole hall. The restoration itself divides opinion, and some visitors find it hurried and heavy-handed, but the overall effect of a tall hall of columns and arches is still handsome, and the bell tower outside is one of the best photo angles on the street. Çeşme Municipality reopened it in 2012 as a culture and arts centre seating around 150 to 200, so it hosts exhibitions by local painters, summer concerts, talks and the occasional handicraft market. Entry is free and the posted hours are 10:00 to 17:00 daily, but the reality is simpler: the door opens when there is an exhibition or event on, and on an ordinary day you may find it locked. If it is open, go in; if not, the facade and tower are the visit, and you have lost nothing. Treat it as a fifteen-minute stop on a bazaar stroll rather than a destination. Inside is one flat open hall, so once past the entrance pushchairs and older relatives are fine, and children enjoy the big space more than the frescoes. In July and August the street fills with holidaymakers in the evening, and that is when the church concerts tend to happen, so glance at the poster on the door if you want an evening that is not the beach.