I had big problems uploading this photo for some reason, and I think the quality is a bit ruined in the process.

The church is dedicated to Taxiarches - Archangels: Michael and Gabrielle. The villagers usually called it "The Big Taxiarchis" so that they would distinguish it from the other church of Taxiarchis that is more ancient and smaller in size. This one is named "The Old Taxiarchis".
The new church of Taxiarchis is located in the area where the central circular tower of the castle used to be. After the Genoans' withdrawal, the tower was deserted. During the Turkish Occupation the only ones that lived inside it were night birds, ravens and kinds of serpents. The tower was thought to be a symbol of submission because the villagers considered all those creatures as something evil. That's why they decided to demolish it and to rebuild the church.
The demolition lasted for two years (it began in 1858). The construction of the church began right after the demolition and finally the church was completed in 1868. The whole work lasted for 10 years and the workers received 3,500 sovereigns for payment. The ones who carried the material from the capital received 120 sovereigns. However, the villagers participated in the construction voluntarily. According to statistics, the necessary materials were:10,000 quintals of lime (1 quintal = 57 kilos), 163 quintals of iron, 55 quintals of lead and 60 shiploads of a special kind of stone.
The church of Taxiarches is the biggest in Chios and one of the biggest in entire Greece. It is a monumental work and it was admired even by those who contributed in its construction.