St. Photios Greek Orthodox National Shrine

In 1777, Governor Patrick Tonyn offered the survivors of a failed Florida colony sanctuary in the Avero House on St. George Street. Those survivors — five hundred Greeks and three Orthodox priests contracted through the British Indentured Servitude Act in 1768 to cultivate land near present-day New Smyrna Beach — had walked to St. Augustine and needed a place to pray. The second floor became their church. The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America dedicated the site as a national shrine in 1982, with Byzantine-style frescoes painted by George Filippakis and mosaics by Sirio Tonelli. It receives over 200,000 visitors a year and admission is free.