The Church of Panagia Evangelistria is the most revered pilgrimage site in the Greek Orthodox world, home to a Byzantine icon of the Virgin Mary that was discovered underground in 1823 and is credited with miraculous healings. The church sits at the top of the main street leading from Tinos harbor, its white neoclassical facade visible from arriving ferries.
On the Feast of the Dormition (15 August), the island becomes one of the most extraordinary sights in Greece: thousands of pilgrims make their way from the harbor to the church on their hands and knees, a distance of about 800 metres, crawling in pain and devotion along a red carpet laid for the purpose. The harbor fills with ships, the streets are packed, and the atmosphere is unlike anything else in the country.
Outside the August pilgrimage, the church is busy year-round with Greek Orthodox visitors seeking the icon's blessing. Non-Orthodox visitors are welcome; the museum beneath the church contains the gifts brought in thanksgiving over the centuries — extraordinary jeweled objects and votive offerings accumulated across two hundred years of miraculous attribution.