Church of St Mary of the Mongols

St. Mary of the Mongols or Panagia Mouchliotissa. The derivation of its name has caused some confusion; some believing it came with the inhabitants of Mouclion in the Mistra who moved here in the 13th C, others that it is a Greek transliteration of the Slavonic Mogyla. However, as Maria, daughter of Michael VIII Paleologus was married off to the Khan of the Mongols it is probably literal. She returned after living at the Mongol court in Persia for 15 years and on her return founded the church and convent in the 1280’s on the site of an earlier foundation dedicated to the Theotokos Panagiotissa. After 1453, it remained in Orthodox hands as a gift of the Sultans.