As with house architecture in Samos (see previous page), the design of church buildings also varies greatly around the island. So far I have found no study of the history of Samian church architecture or even descriptions of individual churches. However, it seems that many older churches have been modified since the island gained its independence from Ottoman Turkey, and have taken on characteristics that are typically - perhaps defiantly - Samian.

The belltowers in Chora are a good example of the somewhat outlandish Samian style. The older solid towers or bases have been added to with ever-smaller open tiers, each supported by columns and arches, and each containing a bell. These tiered towers remind one of gigantic wedding cakes.

The base of the tower in the photo above also acts as a porched gateway to the churchyard. It is particularly well built with careful stonework and solid-looking (though not perfectly symmetrical) arches. At some point the structure has been strengthened by metal ties, presumably to help support the weight of the extra tiers.

As well as the recycled columns, the porch of the belltower also has four unusual pillars used to support the handrails on either side of the steps leading down to the churchyard. Each of the pillars is topped by a stone resembling a button mushroom. I may, be barking up the wrong pillar, but they reminded me of the cippi often seen just across the Samos Strait in Anatolia.

A cippus (plural cippi) is a type of small pillar set up in ancient times as a gravestone or to mark distances (like milestones), land boundaries and the course of aqueducts. Cippi were made in various shapes and sizes, and sometimes bore inscriptions. The mushroom type, also referred to as a "phallos stone", was used in Anatolia (Asia Minor) from the 7th century BC until Roman times.

I do not know of any records of such cippi on Samos, so please don't sue me if this theory is wrong.

Perhaps they were made for this purpose and always looked like this. Who knows? Very little has been published (in Greek or any other language) about the history and architure of churches on Samos. Nearly all the churches I visited on the island were closed, and I could find noone who could tell me more about a particular church. As usual, most internet sources slavishly copy each other, stating slight variations of the same basic information, without substantiation or stating their sources.

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