Old Metropolis, Veria

[1] The Ottomans made a few alterations to the building, replacing the semi-circular arches of the upper windows to pointed ones, and demolished the northern portion of the transept to add a plain minaret.

It then passed to the local "Apostle Paul" Christian Union, housed government agencies during the World Wars, and was used as a stable during the German occupation of Greece.

[2] Since October 2010. the building underwent restoration by the 11th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities, funded by the EU through the Partnership Agreement for the Development Framework 2007–13, with a budget of 3,465,000 Euro.

The work involved extensive interventions to enhance the building's structural stability and preserve the rediscovered frescoes, as well as the elements added during the Ottoman-era use as a mosque.

[3] The building, dating to the early 11th century, is considered one of the largest surviving middle Byzantine buildings in the Balkans, and one of the largest episcopal cathedrals in the region of Macedonia, but its early history is obscure apart from a single inscription on its western entrance that records that it was the work of a certain Niketas, who is attested as the city's bishop in 1078.