Chrysa Savvidou

The town of Andravida at the eastern edge of the Gastouni-Andravida plain, was selected as the capital of the principality of Achaia by the French Crusader William Champlitte, who instigated the conquest of the Peloponnese. Before the Frankish conquest it was already one of the largest and most important towns in the Morea. In the Chronicle of the Morea, Andravida is referred to as the most splendid place on the plain of the Morea. As soon as he captured the Peloponnese, Geoffrey I Villehardouin turned to the distribution of fiefs and the organisation of his principality. To settle these matters, a meeting of feudal lords was held in Andravida, at which the town was designated capital of the principality. It thus became the first administrative and political centre of the newly-founded Frankish state. Under Geoffrey I Villehardouin (1210-1228/30), it also became the seat of the bishop of Oleni.¹ This height of prosperity and influence attained by Andravida was soon overshadowed by the growth of Glarentza in the 14th century, when this town became the commercial centre of the Peloponnese and the most important port leading to the West.

According to the Chronicle of Aragon, William II Villehardouin (1246-78) built the churches of St Sophia, St Stephen and St James there. In fact, the church of St James predates 1214, and Geoffrey I and his family were buried in it.² It was used thereafter as a burial place for the Villehardouins. The Knights Templar settled here in 1241.³ At some point during the Ottoman period the church was converted into a mosque, and the traveller Pouqueville, who visited the area in 1805, reports that he saw “. . . a short distance from St Sophia a Gothic church built by the French, which was the metropolis of the Catholic bishops down to the 15th century . . .”. There is no evidence for the church of St Stephen, though it is believed to have been the Franciscan church mentioned in the archives of the order.

No literary sources are preserved for the history of Ayia Sophia, and the only information available comes from study of the architecture of the building. The archaeological service responsible for it has undertaken occasional excavation and restoration work, though on a limited scale. The most important projects are the restoration of the roof of the north chapel and the south-east cross-vault, in 1964. C. Sheppard also investigated the monument in 1982-83.⁴ Finally, the University of Minnesota conducted an excavation in 1985,⁵ during which the ruins were located of a Byzantine church that seems to have occupied the site earlier.