Mystras has seven great churches, among the finest late Byzantine buildings anywhere. Agios Dimitrios, the cathedral (around 1270), is the oldest; Constantine Palaiologos was crowned emperor here. Agioi Theodoroi (1290–95) and the Hodegetria or Afentiko (1310–20) belong to the Brontochion monastery, with fine early 14th-century paintings.
Hagia Sophia was founded by Despot Manuel Kantakouzenos, and the Peribleptos, from the same period, has one of the most complete sets of late Byzantine paintings. The Pantanassa, consecrated in 1428 and still a working convent, has paintings of around 1430 and a balcony with a wonderful view.