The Holy Church of Agios Ioannis Prodromos also called "Epta Vimata" because of its architectural characteristic (it is composed of seven conch shaped parts), is dedicated to St. John the Baptist and is situated in the Southern part of the town of Kos, within its cemetery, just behind the Catholic cemetery/church. The church is quite impressive and well worth the detour.
Originally the Church is estimated to have been built around the 5th or 6th century, and used to be the baptistery of a basilica of the Early Christian period. The basilica is supposed to have been excavated by the Italians but no trace of it remains today. The church was based on eight columns of Ionian style of which only three remain to this day and a large part of the materials used to build it have been taken from ancient buildings of earlier periods some of which you will not fail to notice. Recent restorations have revealed frescoes from the 12th-13th centuries as well as from the 16th century.
