The five-aisled basilica of Hagios Demetrios was built in the 5th century AD, replacing a Roman bath. Gutted by a fire in 620, it was rebuilt by a prefect named Leontios. It was converted into a mosque in 1493 and became a Christian church again in 1912. The Great Fire of 1917 completely destroyed it though it was restored with much fervor with any original piece of masonry or decoration that could still be used. The restoration was finally completed in 1949. According to the novelist Giorgos Ioannou “when we had given up all hope of ever seeing the church completed, they went on a building frenzy, filling the gaps and raising the walls; it seemed as if there was no chance of a victorious conclusion to the civil war unless the church of our patron military saint was completed first…”