Cathedral of the Annunciation, or, as it is called, Metropolitan - one of the largest Orthodox churches in Athens, located on Mitropoleos Square. Construction of the cathedral began on Christmas Day in 1842. The foundation stone laid the King of Greece Otto and Queen Amalia.

For the construction of the huge walls of the cathedral was used marble from 72 demolished churches. Three architects participated in the design of the cathedral. Initially, the building designed by Theophil von Hansen. Once it built the lower level of the building, due to lack of funds the construction was suspended. A few years later the construction of the cathedral continued the architect Dimitrios Zezos. After his death the work was continued by French architect François Boulanger. After 20 years of work have been completed. May 21, 1862 in the presence of the King and Queen, the cathedral was consecrated in honor of the Annunciation of the Mother of God.

The Cathedral is a three-nave domed basilica 40 meters long, 20 meters wide and 24 meters high. Architecture and interior design of the cathedral carried out mainly in the Greek Byzantine style.

In the cathedral are the tombs of two saints killed by the Turks. The first rests the Holy Filofei. He was tortured by the Turks in 1559 for the purchase of Greek women of Turkish harems. The second - the Tomb of the Patriarch of Constantinople, Gregory V. was hanged by the Turks during the uprising for the independence of Greece. Until 1871 his relics were buried at the Holy Trinity Greek church in Odessa, after which they were transported to Athens.

In the square outside the cathedral are two statues. The first - a monument to the last Byzantine emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos (Dragas), the second - the archbishop of Damascus (during World War II was archbishop of Athens, and in 1946 the regent of King George II and Prime Minister of Greece).

Metropolitan is the seat of the bishop of Athens and All Greece and an important spiritual center of Greek Orthodoxy.