Prophet Elias chapel at Svala area

• Description

It is not known when the Prophet Elias chapel was first established, but we think it was more likely to be built at the middle of the 17th century

The area of the Vourliotes plain, where the chapel of Prophet Elias is located, was first inhabited, about 1402, when Genoese was in Samos, but was abandoned at 1476, with the desolation of the island.

The second time that the area inhabited was at the middle of the 16th century, since after the conquest of Chios island by the Ottomans in 1566, many Christians residents of Chios, forced by the Ottomans to migrate to the city Urlla at Asia Minor, but from there a large number of immigrants was moving to Samos, where after 1549 (recolonization of the island) there was a particularly secure regime for the Greeks and Christians, under the authority of Turkish Admiral Kılıc Ali Pasa.  Several of them settled at the wider area of “Kampos of Vourliotes”, and creating various settlements.

With the rebuilding of the settlements at the wider area of Kampos, the chapel of Prophet Elias must have been built, probably in the middle of the 17th century, perhaps even earlier.

The church is built on the top of the homonym hill, at the area “Svala”, to the east part of “kampos Vourlioton (= plain of Vourliotes village) and has amazing, panoramic view to Aegean sea, to plain, to the coasts of Asia Minor, to the city of Samos, and to the villages Kokkari, Vourliotes and Stavrines.
It is surrounded by the ruins of the “Svala Castle”, which must have been built during the Early Christian period (4th-7th centuries AD) but should also be used in the Middle Byzantine period (8th-12th centuries AD).

The exterior dimensions of the church is 3.82 m wide and 4.58 m long, while the internal dimensions is 2.42 m wide by 3.40 m long and 2.90 m tall. The sanctuary has a built stone holy table, 0.90 m high. The floor has been covered later, with black and white tiles, in patterns style probably of the 20th century.

Ioannis E. Kiloukiotis 

• Features

• Foundation :probably in the middle of the 17^th century
• Celebration : 20 July
  
• Altitude :  Elevation ≈ 70 m
  
• Condition : good
  
• Administratively : Chapel

• Getting there

• To reach the chapel of Prophet Elias, at the intersection of the national road 62, Samos – Karlovasi, with the road to the village Vourliotes, follow the narrow, uphill path for about 200 m.

• Video

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