A little history...
Cargèse, the most Greek of Corsican villages!
A Greek church, Greek-sounding family names and some inhabitants who still speak the language, surely Cargese is an ancient Greek colony!
Back to the past:
800 Greeks from the far south-eastern Peloponnese peninsula, from Laconia, arrived in Cargese at the end of the 17e century. They were fleeing a certain Turkish tyranny. These Greeks settled in Paomia but the villagers pushed this new population towards Ajaccio.
After more than 40 years, the Greeks came back while a new French tutelage had just been established in Corsica. Cargèse was founded! A real cohabitation between the Corsicans and the Greeks was born.
The Greek community had no place of worship. Around 1868, they decided to build their church with their own hands.
Nowadays :
With an exceptional panorama, the Greek and Latin churches face each other and services take place in turn in each of the two churches, every week.
The first, Orthodox, has a neo-Gothic exterior and a neo-classical interior with a sanctuary separated from the nave by an iconostasis. The richness of the decoration is typical of Eastern Rite churches.
The second, Catholic, offers a baroque style interior with trompe l'oeil paintings.
A must-see!!!
