File:Stamp 1944 Greece MiNr0474 mt B002b.jpg

Stamp of Greece; 1944; definitive stamp of the issue "Landscapes" (Greece was occupated by German military units until October 1944.); The stamp motive shows a depiction of the "Panagia Ekatontapiliani" in Parikia on the Greek island Paros in the Aegaean Sea (after a destruction of this site by an earthquake in the 18th century); This church was built in 326 during the reign of Emperor Constantine (called "the Great", reign 300-337) in the style of the Byzantine art after suggestion of the mother of Constantin ("Helena") and was long time an important location at the Marian pilgrimage in the Aegean Sea.; According to the tradition was the church built under the direction of an architect called "Isidoros", which already had built the "Hagia Sofia".; Completed was this site firstly under Emperor "Justinian II" (reign 685-695 and 705-711).; The origin of the name of this church is unclaer, because it means "church of the hundred doors"; but this church has or had no hundred doors.; An other tradition says, that the name is a corruption of the word "Katapoliani", which means approximately "the side (of the church), which is facing to the town" because the church was located before the earthquake in the 17th century before the Old-town of Parikia.; Any church buildings it has given there already in the 4th century, however they were probably destroyed by fire.; The pilgrimage site was gradually restored in modern times.; mint stamp
Stamp: Michel: No. 474; Yvert & Tellier: No. 472; Scott: No. 447
Color: red brown
Watermark: Greece No. 2 (multiple crowns, slant, upwards)
Nominal value: 1000 DRX.. (Drachmes)