The Church of Saint Panteleimon is an old Katholicon of a Byzantine monastery in Thessaloniki and a World Heritage Site. It is located in the central part of the city, at the crossing of Egnatia and Iasonidou streets. It belongs to the “complex tetragonal cruciform inscribed with a narthex” style with a perimeter gallery, ending in two chapels in the east.
The church dates back to late 13th – early 14th century, and is said to be the same as the Peribleptos Monastery, also known as the Monastery of Mr. Isaac, named after its founder, who was metropolitan of Thessaloniki, under the name Iakovos, between 1295 and 1315. The monastery was a spiritual center of the 14th century and was associated with the writing and teaching activity of two important Hellenistic scholars from Thessaloniki, Thomas Magistrou and Matthaios Vlastaris.
It is assumed that the name Panteleimon is borrowed from the northern chapel of the neighboring church of Panagouda, which the utensils of Saint Panteleimon church were transferred to, when Saint Panteleimon church was converted into a mosque by the Turks, between 1568 – 1571, under the name Isakiye Mosque. Some researchers believe that the Monastery of Peribleptos already existed in the 12th century, and that the church of Saint Panteleimon was converted into a mosque around 1500 or 1548 by Isak Celebi, Kadi of Thessaloniki, and named after him.
Today the church consists of the narthex, the central “cruciform core” and two chapels, while the portico has been destroyed. The frescoes that we see today in the narthex and in the main church belong to the years of the Turkish rule, while frescoes from the original Byzantine decoration, that date between the 13th and 14th centuries, were preserved in the presbytery and the deacon’s area The belief that the church was built during late 13th century is reinforced the fact that Iakovos was the metropolitan of Thessaloniki.
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