St Nicola church

The Church of St Nicholas is a Greek Orthodox church in the city of Kavala, Greece, belonging to the Metropolis of Philippi, Neapolis and Thasos under the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. The building was erected in the Ottoman period as the Ibrahim Pasha Mosque and was later converted into a church. It is dedicated to St Nicholas. The site is also associated with a belief that the Apostle Paul set foot here. According to the record, it stands on St Nicholas Street in central Kavala.

The present building was constructed in 1530 as a mosque, on the site of an earlier Christian basilica thought to have been dedicated to St Lazarus. It took its name from the Grand Vizier Pargalı Damat Ibrahim Pasha. As the central mosque of the old town, it was surrounded by a complex that included a caravanserai, a madrasa and shops. The entrance facing the qibla carried an Arabic inscription.

After northern Greece came under Greek rule and the Muslim population left, the mosque was abandoned. It was converted into a church between 1926 and 1927 and consecrated in 1945. The mihrab and minbar were removed, and a bell tower was built on the base of the minaret. A monument to St Paul was added to the site in 2000.