The death of Ioannis Kapodistrias ushered into a period of renewed civil strife and threatened to cancel the tentative steps towards normalcy that the country desperately needed. His body was embalmed by a local pharmacist and displayed in his residence (Palataki) for many days. It would be rather cruel to hold the funeral service at the same church where he was assassinated, so the funeral was held in the nearby church of Agios Georgios. It was not a bad choice. The church was built during the first period of Venetian rule, but when the Ottomans conquered Nafplion in 1540, they turned it into a mosque. In 1686, the Greeks held a service here to celebrate their deliverance after Morosini captured the city.